¹⁸ Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.^(A)

¹⁹ One of you will say to me:^(B) “Then why does God still blame us?^(C) For who is able to resist his will?”^{(D) 20} But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?^(E) “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,^(F) ‘Why did you make me like this?’”^{[a](G) 21} Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?^(H)

²² What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience^(I) the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?^{(J) 23} What if he did this to make the riches of his glory^(K) known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory^(L)—