¹⁵ Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved^(A) them, and he chose you,^(B) their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today.^(C)

³⁷ Because he loved^(A) your ancestors and chose their descendants after them, he brought you out of Egypt by his Presence and his great strength,^(B)

¹³ Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”^[a](A)

¹⁴ What then shall we say?^(B) Is God unjust? Not at all!^{(C) 15} For he says to Moses,

¹⁶ It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.^{(E) 17} For 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.”^{[c](F) 18} Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.^(G)

¹⁹ One of you will say to me:^(H) “Then why does God still blame us?^(I) For who is able to resist his will?”^{(J) 20} But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?^(K) “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,^(L) ‘Why did you make me like this?’”^{[d](M) 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?^(N)

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

⁷ The Lord did not set his affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous^(A) than other peoples, for you were the fewest^(B) of all peoples.^{(C) 8} But it was because the Lord loved^(D) you and kept the oath he swore^(E) to your ancestors that he brought you out with a mighty hand^(F) and redeemed^(G) you from the land of slavery,^(H) from the power of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

⁸ If the Lord is pleased with us,^(A) he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey,^(B) and will give it to us.^(C)