⁷ The Lord did not set His ^(A)love on you nor choose you because you were more in number than any other people, for you were ^(B)the least of all peoples;

²² Your fathers went down to Egypt with seventy persons, and now the Lord your God has made you as the stars of heaven in multitude.

⁶ And ^(A)if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. ^[a]But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.

²⁷ Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:

²⁹ And as Isaiah said before:

²¹ Does not the ^(A)potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make ^(B)one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

¹¹ (for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of ^(A)Him who calls), ¹² it was said to her, ^(B)“The older shall serve the younger.” ¹³ As it is written, ^(C)“Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”

Israel’s Rejection and God’s Justice

¹⁴ What shall we say then? ^(D)Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! ¹⁵ For He says to Moses, ^(E)“I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”

The Futility of Idols and the Trustworthiness of God

¹⁰ In this is love, ^(A)not that we loved God, but that He loved us and sent His Son ^(B)to be the propitiation for our sins.

The Command to Love

3 Behold ^(A)what manner of love the Father has bestowed on us, that ^(B)we should be called children of ^[a]God! Therefore the world does not know ^[b]us, ^(C)because it did not know Him.