Romans · Chapter 9
Romans 9
Berean Standard Bible · Public domain · Source credits
Paul’s Concern for the Jews
1I speak the truth in Christ; I am not lying, as confirmed by my conscience in the Holy Spirit.
2I have deep sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
3For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood,
4the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.
5Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them proceeds the human descent of Christ, who is God over all, forever worthy of praise! Amen.*
God’s Sovereign Choice
(Genesis 25:19–28; Malachi 1:1–5)
6It is not as though God’s word has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
7Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.”*
8So it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as offspring.
9For this is what the promise stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”*
10Not only that, but Rebecca’s children were conceived by one man, our father Isaac.
11Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s plan of election might stand,
12not by works but by Him who calls, she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”*
13So it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”*
14What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Certainly not!
15For He says to Moses:“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”*
16So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
17For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”*
18Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden.
19One of you will say to me, “Then why does God still find fault? For who can resist His will?”
20But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?”*
21Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use?
22What if God, intending to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the vessels of His wrath, prepared for destruction?
23What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the vessels of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory—
24including us, whom He has called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles?
25As He says in Hosea:“I will call them ‘My People’ who are not My people,and I will call her ‘My Beloved’ who is not My beloved,”*
26and,“It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them,‘You are not My people,’they will be called‘sons of the living God.’”*
27Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:“Though the number of the Israelites is like the sand of the sea,only the remnant will be saved.
28For the Lord will carry out His sentence on the earththoroughly and decisively.”*
29It is just as Isaiah foretold:“Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us descendants,we would have become like Sodom,we would have resembled Gomorrah.”*
Israel’s Unbelief
30What then will we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;
31but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.
32Why not? Because their pursuit was not by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone,
33as it is written:“See, I lay in Zion a stone of stumblingand a rock of offense;and the one who believes in Himwill never be put to shame.”*
Source notes
- 9:5 Or forever blessed
- 9:7 Genesis 21:12 Read Genesis 21:12
- 9:9 Genesis 18:14 Read Genesis 18:14
- 9:12 Genesis 25:23 Read Genesis 25:23
- 9:13 Malachi 1:2–3 Read Malachi 1:2
- 9:15 Exodus 33:19 Read Exodus 33:19
- 9:17 Exodus 9:16 (see also LXX) Read Exodus 9:16
- 9:20 Isaiah 29:16; Isaiah 45:9 Read Isaiah 29:16 Read Isaiah 45:9
- 9:25 Hosea 2:23 Read Hosea 2:23
- 9:26 Hosea 1:10 Read Hosea 1:10
- 9:28 Isaiah 10:22–23 (see also LXX) Read Isaiah 10:22
- 9:29 Isaiah 1:9 (see also LXX) Read Isaiah 1:9
- 9:33 Isaiah 8:14 Isaiah 28:16 (see also LXX) Read Isaiah 8:14 Read Isaiah 28:16
Old Testament references
References from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. Text from the Berean Standard Bible.
Genesis 21:12But God said to Abraham, “Do not be distressed about the boy and your maidservant. Listen to everything that Sarah tells you, for through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.
Genesis 18:14Is anything too difficult for the LORD? At the appointed time I will return to you—in about a year—and Sarah will have a son.”
Genesis 25:23and He declared to her: “Two nations are in your womb, and two peoples from within you will be separated; one people will be stronger than the other, and the older will serve the younger.”
Malachi 1:2“I have loved you,” says the LORD. But you ask, “How have You loved us?” “Was not Esau Jacob’s brother?” declares the LORD. “Yet Jacob I have loved,
Exodus 33:19“I will cause all My goodness to pass before you,” the LORD replied, “and I will proclaim My name—the LORD—in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
Exodus 9:16But I have raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display My power to you, and that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth.
Isaiah 29:16You have turned things upside down, as if the potter were regarded as clay. Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, “He did not make me”? Can the pottery say of the potter, “He has no understanding”?
Isaiah 45:9Woe to him who quarrels with his Maker— one clay pot among many. Does the clay ask the potter, ‘What are you making?’ Does your work say, ‘He has no hands’?
Hosea 2:23And I will sow her as My own in the land, and I will have compassion on ‘No Compassion.’ I will say to those called ‘Not My People,’ ‘You are My people,’ and they will say, ‘You are my God.’”
Hosea 1:10Yet the number of the Israelites will be like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or counted. And it will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’
Isaiah 10:22Though your people, O Israel, be like the sand of the sea, only a remnant will return. Destruction has been decreed, overflowing with righteousness.
Isaiah 1:9Unless the LORD of Hosts had left us a few survivors, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.
Isaiah 8:14And He will be a sanctuary— but to both houses of Israel a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense, to the dwellers of Jerusalem a trap and a snare.
Isaiah 28:16So this is what the Lord GOD says: “See, I lay a stone in Zion, a tested stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation; the one who believes will never be shaken.
1 Samuel 15:35And to the day of his death, Samuel never again visited Saul. Samuel mourned for Saul, and the LORD regretted that He had made Saul king over Israel.
Psalms 119:136My eyes shed streams of tears because Your law is not obeyed.
Isaiah 66:10Be glad for Jerusalem and rejoice over her, all who love her. Rejoice greatly with her, all who mourn over her,
Jeremiah 9:1Oh, that my head were a spring of water, and my eyes a fountain of tears! I would weep day and night over the slain daughter of my people.
Jeremiah 13:17But if you do not listen, I will weep in secret because of your pride. My eyes will overflow with tears, because the LORD’s flock has been taken captive.
Lamentations 1:12Is this nothing to you, all you who pass by? Look around and see! Is there any sorrow like mine, which was inflicted on me, which the LORD made me suffer on the day of His fierce anger?
Lamentations 3:48Streams of tears flow from my eyes over the destruction of the daughter of my people.
Lamentations 3:49My eyes overflow unceasingly, without relief,
Lamentations 3:51My eyes bring grief to my soul because of all the daughters of my city.
Ezekiel 9:4“Go throughout the city of Jerusalem,” said the LORD, “and put a mark on the foreheads of the men sighing and groaning over all the abominations committed there.”
Exodus 32:32Yet now, if You would only forgive their sin.... But if not, please blot me out of the book that You have written.”
Deuteronomy 21:23you must not leave the body on the tree overnight, but you must be sure to bury him that day, because anyone who is hung on a tree is under God’s curse. You must not defile the land that the LORD your God is giving you as an inheritance.