Romans 11:1-10
New Catholic Bible
Chapter 11
The Remnant of Israel.[a] 1 I ask, then: Has God rejected his people? Of course not! I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. You surely must know what Scripture asserts in the passage about Elijah where he pleads with God against Israel: 3 “Lord, they have killed your Prophets, they have torn down your altars. I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.”
4 What was God’s response to him? “I have spared for myself seven thousand men who have not knelt before Baal.” 5 So too, at the present time, there is a remnant, chosen by grace. 6 But if it is by grace, then it is no longer by works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
7 What follows, then? Israel was unable to attain what it was seeking. The elect attained it, but the rest were hardened, 8 as it is written:
“God gave them a spirit of lethargy:
eyes that could not see
and ears that could not hear,
down to this very day.”
9 And David says:
“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
10 Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
and their backs be bent forever.”
Footnotes
- Romans 11:1 The threat to “harden” human beings (Isa 29:10) is often cited in the New Testament in censuring seemingly irremediable human blindness (see Mt 13:14; Jn 12:40; Acts 28:26). God is not indifferent to human rejection.
