Deuteronomy 9:6

New International Version

⁶Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the Lord your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.^(A)

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Deuteronomy 9:6 in all English translations

Deuteronomy 9:28-29

New International Version

²⁸Otherwise, the country^(A) from which you brought us will say, ‘Because the Lord was not able to take them into the land he had promised them, and because he hated them,^(B) he brought them out to put them to death in the wilderness.’^(C) ²⁹But they are your people,^(D) your inheritance^(E) that you brought out by your great power and your outstretched arm.^(F)”

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Deuteronomy 31:27

New International Version

²⁷For I know how rebellious^(A) and stiff-necked^(B) you are. If you have been rebellious against the Lord while I am still alive and with you, how much more will you rebel after I die!

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Deuteronomy 31:27 in all English translations

Leviticus 26

New International Version

Reward for Obedience

26 “‘Do not make idols^(A) or set up an image^(B) or a sacred stone^(C) for yourselves, and do not place a carved stone^(D) in your land to bow down before it. I am the Lord your God.

²“‘Observe my Sabbaths^(E) and have reverence for my sanctuary.^(F) I am the Lord.

³“‘If you follow my decrees and are careful to obey^(G) my commands, ⁴I will send you rain^(H) in its season,^(I) and the ground will yield its crops and the trees their fruit.^(J) ⁵Your threshing will continue until grape harvest and the grape harvest will continue until planting, and you will eat all the food you want^(K) and live in safety in your land.^(L)

⁶“‘I will grant peace in the land,^(M) and you will lie down^(N) and no one will make you afraid.^(O) I will remove wild beasts^(P) from the land, and the sword will not pass through your country. ⁷You will pursue your enemies,^(Q) and they will fall by the sword before you. ⁸Five^(R) of you will chase a hundred, and a hundred of you will chase ten thousand, and your enemies will fall by the sword before you.^(S)

⁹“‘I will look on you with favor and make you fruitful and increase your numbers,^(T) and I will keep my covenant^(U) with you. ¹⁰You will still be eating last year’s harvest when you will have to move it out to make room for the new.^(V) ¹¹I will put my dwelling place^[a]^(W) among you, and I will not abhor you.^(X) ¹²I will walk^(Y) among you and be your God,^(Z) and you will be my people.^(AA) ¹³I am the Lord your God,^(AB) who brought you out of Egypt^(AC) so that you would no longer be slaves to the Egyptians; I broke the bars of your yoke^(AD) and enabled you to walk with heads held high.

Punishment for Disobedience

¹⁴“‘But if you will not listen to me and carry out all these commands,^(AE) ¹⁵and if you reject my decrees and abhor my laws^(AF) and fail to carry out all my commands and so violate my covenant,^(AG) ¹⁶then I will do this to you: I will bring on you sudden terror, wasting diseases and fever^(AH) that will destroy your sight and sap your strength.^(AI) You will plant seed in vain, because your enemies will eat it.^(AJ) ¹⁷I will set my face^(AK) against you so that you will be defeated^(AL) by your enemies;^(AM) those who hate you will rule over you,^(AN) and you will flee even when no one is pursuing you.^(AO)

¹⁸“‘If after all this you will not listen to me,^(AP) I will punish^(AQ) you for your sins seven times over.^(AR) ¹⁹I will break down your stubborn pride^(AS) and make the sky above you like iron and the ground beneath you like bronze.^(AT) ²⁰Your strength will be spent in vain,^(AU) because your soil will not yield its crops, nor will the trees of your land yield their fruit.^(AV)

²¹“‘If you remain hostile^(AW) toward me and refuse to listen to me, I will multiply your afflictions seven times over,^(AX) as your sins deserve. ²²I will send wild animals^(AY) against you, and they will rob you of your children, destroy your cattle and make you so few^(AZ) in number that your roads will be deserted.^(BA)

²³“‘If in spite of these things you do not accept my correction^(BB) but continue to be hostile toward me, ²⁴I myself will be hostile^(BC) toward you and will afflict you for your sins seven times over. ²⁵And I will bring the sword^(BD) on you to avenge^(BE) the breaking of the covenant. When you withdraw into your cities, I will send a plague^(BF) among you, and you will be given into enemy hands. ²⁶When I cut off your supply of bread,^(BG) ten women will be able to bake your bread in one oven, and they will dole out the bread by weight. You will eat, but you will not be satisfied.

²⁷“‘If in spite of this you still do not listen to me^(BH) but continue to be hostile toward me, ²⁸then in my anger^(BI) I will be hostile^(BJ) toward you, and I myself will punish you for your sins seven times over.^(BK) ²⁹You will eat^(BL) the flesh of your sons and the flesh of your daughters.^(BM) ³⁰I will destroy your high places,^(BN) cut down your incense altars^(BO) and pile your dead bodies^[b] on the lifeless forms of your idols,^(BP) and I will abhor^(BQ) you. ³¹I will turn your cities into ruins^(BR) and lay waste^(BS) your sanctuaries,^(BT) and I will take no delight in the pleasing aroma of your offerings.^(BU) ³²I myself will lay waste the land,^(BV) so that your enemies who live there will be appalled.^(BW) ³³I will scatter^(BX) you among the nations^(BY) and will draw out my sword^(BZ) and pursue you. Your land will be laid waste,^(CA) and your cities will lie in ruins.^(CB) ³⁴Then the land will enjoy its sabbath years all the time that it lies desolate^(CC) and you are in the country of your enemies;^(CD) then the land will rest and enjoy its sabbaths. ³⁵All the time that it lies desolate, the land will have the rest^(CE) it did not have during the sabbaths you lived in it.

³⁶“‘As for those of you who are left, I will make their hearts so fearful in the lands of their enemies that the sound of a windblown leaf^(CF) will put them to flight.^(CG) They will run as though fleeing from the sword, and they will fall, even though no one is pursuing them.^(CH) ³⁷They will stumble over one another^(CI) as though fleeing from the sword, even though no one is pursuing them. So you will not be able to stand before your enemies.^(CJ) ³⁸You will perish^(CK) among the nations; the land of your enemies will devour you.^(CL) ³⁹Those of you who are left will waste away in the lands of their enemies because of their sins; also because of their ancestors’^(CM) sins they will waste away.^(CN)

⁴⁰“‘But if they will confess^(CO) their sins^(CP) and the sins of their ancestors^(CQ)—their unfaithfulness and their hostility toward me, ⁴¹which made me hostile^(CR) toward them so that I sent them into the land of their enemies—then when their uncircumcised hearts^(CS) are humbled^(CT) and they pay^(CU) for their sin, ⁴²I will remember my covenant with Jacob^(CV) and my covenant with Isaac^(CW) and my covenant with Abraham,^(CX) and I will remember the land. ⁴³For the land will be deserted^(CY) by them and will enjoy its sabbaths while it lies desolate without them. They will pay for their sins because they rejected^(CZ) my laws and abhorred my decrees.^(DA) ⁴⁴Yet in spite of this, when they are in the land of their enemies,^(DB) I will not reject them or abhor^(DC) them so as to destroy them completely,^(DD) breaking my covenant^(DE) with them. I am the Lord their God. ⁴⁵But for their sake I will remember^(DF) the covenant with their ancestors whom I brought out of Egypt^(DG) in the sight of the nations to be their God. I am the Lord.’”

⁴⁶These are the decrees, the laws and the regulations that the Lord established at Mount Sinai^(DH) between himself and the Israelites through Moses.^(DI)

Footnotes

Leviticus 26:11 Or my tabernacle
Leviticus 26:30 Or your funeral offerings

Psalm 78

New International Version

Psalm 78

A maskil^[a] of Asaph.

¹My people, hear my teaching;^(A)
    listen to the words of my mouth.
²I will open my mouth with a parable;^(B)
    I will utter hidden things, things from of old—
³things we have heard and known,
    things our ancestors have told us.^(C)
⁴We will not hide them from their descendants;^(D)
    we will tell the next generation^(E)
the praiseworthy deeds^(F) of the Lord,
    his power, and the wonders^(G) he has done.
⁵He decreed statutes^(H) for Jacob^(I)
    and established the law in Israel,
which he commanded our ancestors
    to teach their children,
⁶so the next generation would know them,
    even the children yet to be born,^(J)
    and they in turn would tell their children.
⁷Then they would put their trust in God
    and would not forget^(K) his deeds
    but would keep his commands.^(L)
⁸They would not be like their ancestors^(M)—
    a stubborn^(N) and rebellious^(O) generation,
whose hearts were not loyal to God,
    whose spirits were not faithful to him.

⁹The men of Ephraim, though armed with bows,^(P)
    turned back on the day of battle;^(Q)
¹⁰they did not keep God’s covenant^(R)
    and refused to live by his law.^(S)
¹¹They forgot what he had done,^(T)
    the wonders he had shown them.
¹²He did miracles^(U) in the sight of their ancestors
    in the land of Egypt,^(V) in the region of Zoan.^(W)
¹³He divided the sea^(X) and led them through;
    he made the water stand up like a wall.^(Y)
¹⁴He guided them with the cloud by day
    and with light from the fire all night.^(Z)
¹⁵He split the rocks^(AA) in the wilderness
    and gave them water as abundant as the seas;
¹⁶he brought streams out of a rocky crag
    and made water flow down like rivers.

¹⁷But they continued to sin^(AB) against him,
    rebelling in the wilderness against the Most High.
¹⁸They willfully put God to the test^(AC)
    by demanding the food they craved.^(AD)
¹⁹They spoke against God;^(AE)
    they said, “Can God really
    spread a table in the wilderness?
²⁰True, he struck the rock,
    and water gushed out,^(AF)
    streams flowed abundantly,
but can he also give us bread?
    Can he supply meat^(AG) for his people?”
²¹When the Lord heard them, he was furious;
    his fire broke out^(AH) against Jacob,
    and his wrath rose against Israel,
²²for they did not believe in God
    or trust^(AI) in his deliverance.
²³Yet he gave a command to the skies above
    and opened the doors of the heavens;^(AJ)
²⁴he rained down manna^(AK) for the people to eat,
    he gave them the grain of heaven.
²⁵Human beings ate the bread of angels;
    he sent them all the food they could eat.
²⁶He let loose the east wind^(AL) from the heavens
    and by his power made the south wind blow.
²⁷He rained meat down on them like dust,
    birds^(AM) like sand on the seashore.
²⁸He made them come down inside their camp,
    all around their tents.
²⁹They ate till they were gorged—^(AN)
    he had given them what they craved.
³⁰But before they turned from what they craved,
    even while the food was still in their mouths,^(AO)
³¹God’s anger rose against them;
    he put to death the sturdiest^(AP) among them,
    cutting down the young men of Israel.

³²In spite of all this, they kept on sinning;^(AQ)
    in spite of his wonders,^(AR) they did not believe.^(AS)
³³So he ended their days in futility^(AT)
    and their years in terror.
³⁴Whenever God slew them, they would seek^(AU) him;
    they eagerly turned to him again.
³⁵They remembered that God was their Rock,^(AV)
    that God Most High was their Redeemer.^(AW)
³⁶But then they would flatter him with their mouths,^(AX)
    lying to him with their tongues;
³⁷their hearts were not loyal^(AY) to him,
    they were not faithful to his covenant.
³⁸Yet he was merciful;^(AZ)
    he forgave^(BA) their iniquities^(BB)
    and did not destroy them.
Time after time he restrained his anger^(BC)
    and did not stir up his full wrath.
³⁹He remembered that they were but flesh,^(BD)
    a passing breeze^(BE) that does not return.

⁴⁰How often they rebelled^(BF) against him in the wilderness^(BG)
    and grieved him^(BH) in the wasteland!
⁴¹Again and again they put God to the test;^(BI)
    they vexed the Holy One of Israel.^(BJ)
⁴²They did not remember^(BK) his power—
    the day he redeemed them from the oppressor,^(BL)
⁴³the day he displayed his signs^(BM) in Egypt,
    his wonders^(BN) in the region of Zoan.
⁴⁴He turned their river into blood;^(BO)
    they could not drink from their streams.
⁴⁵He sent swarms of flies^(BP) that devoured them,
    and frogs^(BQ) that devastated them.
⁴⁶He gave their crops to the grasshopper,^(BR)
    their produce to the locust.^(BS)
⁴⁷He destroyed their vines with hail^(BT)
    and their sycamore-figs with sleet.
⁴⁸He gave over their cattle to the hail,
    their livestock^(BU) to bolts of lightning.
⁴⁹He unleashed against them his hot anger,^(BV)
    his wrath, indignation and hostility—
    a band of destroying angels.^(BW)
⁵⁰He prepared a path for his anger;
    he did not spare them from death
    but gave them over to the plague.
⁵¹He struck down all the firstborn of Egypt,^(BX)
    the firstfruits of manhood in the tents of Ham.^(BY)
⁵²But he brought his people out like a flock;^(BZ)
    he led them like sheep through the wilderness.
⁵³He guided them safely, so they were unafraid;
    but the sea engulfed^(CA) their enemies.^(CB)
⁵⁴And so he brought them to the border of his holy land,
    to the hill country his right hand^(CC) had taken.
⁵⁵He drove out nations^(CD) before them
    and allotted their lands to them as an inheritance;^(CE)
    he settled the tribes of Israel in their homes.

⁵⁶But they put God to the test
    and rebelled against the Most High;
    they did not keep his statutes.
⁵⁷Like their ancestors^(CF) they were disloyal and faithless,
    as unreliable as a faulty bow.^(CG)
⁵⁸They angered him^(CH) with their high places;^(CI)
    they aroused his jealousy with their idols.^(CJ)
⁵⁹When God heard^(CK) them, he was furious;^(CL)
    he rejected Israel^(CM) completely.
⁶⁰He abandoned the tabernacle of Shiloh,^(CN)
    the tent he had set up among humans.^(CO)
⁶¹He sent the ark of his might^(CP) into captivity,^(CQ)
    his splendor into the hands of the enemy.
⁶²He gave his people over to the sword;^(CR)
    he was furious with his inheritance.^(CS)
⁶³Fire consumed^(CT) their young men,
    and their young women had no wedding songs;^(CU)
⁶⁴their priests were put to the sword,^(CV)
    and their widows could not weep.

⁶⁵Then the Lord awoke as from sleep,^(CW)
    as a warrior wakes from the stupor of wine.
⁶⁶He beat back his enemies;
    he put them to everlasting shame.^(CX)
⁶⁷Then he rejected the tents of Joseph,
    he did not choose the tribe of Ephraim;^(CY)
⁶⁸but he chose the tribe of Judah,^(CZ)
    Mount Zion,^(DA) which he loved.
⁶⁹He built his sanctuary^(DB) like the heights,
    like the earth that he established forever.
⁷⁰He chose David^(DC) his servant
    and took him from the sheep pens;
⁷¹from tending the sheep^(DD) he brought him
    to be the shepherd^(DE) of his people Jacob,
    of Israel his inheritance.
⁷²And David shepherded them with integrity of heart;^(DF)
    with skillful hands he led them.

Footnotes

Psalm 78:1 Title: Probably a literary or musical term

Isaiah 53:5

New International Version

⁵But he was pierced^(A) for our transgressions,^(B)
he was crushed^(C) for our iniquities;
the punishment^(D) that brought us peace^(E) was on him,
and by his wounds^(F) we are healed.^(G)

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Isaiah 53:5 in all English translations

Ezekiel 12:2

New International Version

²“Son of man, you are living among a rebellious people.^(A) They have eyes to see but do not see and ears to hear but do not hear, for they are a rebellious people.^(B)

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Ezekiel 12:2 in all English translations

Daniel 9:26

New International Version

²⁶After the sixty-two ‘sevens,’ the Anointed One will be put to death^(A) and will have nothing.^[a] The people of the ruler who will come will destroy the city and the sanctuary. The end will come like a flood:^(B) War will continue until the end, and desolations^(C) have been decreed.^(D)

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Footnotes

Daniel 9:26 Or death and will have no one; or death, but not for himself

Daniel 9:26 in all English translations

Luke 13:34-35

New International Version

³⁴“Jerusalem, Jerusalem, you who kill the prophets and stone those sent to you, how often I have longed to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks under her wings,^(A) and you were not willing. ³⁵Look, your house is left to you desolate.^(B) I tell you, you will not see me again until you say, ‘Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord.’^[a]”^(C)

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Footnotes

Luke 13:35 Psalm 118:26

Acts 7

New International Version

Stephen’s Speech to the Sanhedrin

7 Then the high priest asked Stephen, “Are these charges true?”

²To this he replied: “Brothers and fathers,^(A) listen to me! The God of glory^(B) appeared to our father Abraham while he was still in Mesopotamia, before he lived in Harran.^(C) ³‘Leave your country and your people,’ God said, ‘and go to the land I will show you.’^[a]^(D)

⁴“So he left the land of the Chaldeans and settled in Harran. After the death of his father, God sent him to this land where you are now living.^(E) ⁵He gave him no inheritance here,^(F) not even enough ground to set his foot on. But God promised him that he and his descendants after him would possess the land,^(G) even though at that time Abraham had no child. ⁶God spoke to him in this way: ‘For four hundred years your descendants will be strangers in a country not their own, and they will be enslaved and mistreated.^(H) ⁷But I will punish the nation they serve as slaves,’ God said, ‘and afterward they will come out of that country and worship me in this place.’^[b]^(I) ⁸Then he gave Abraham the covenant of circumcision.^(J) And Abraham became the father of Isaac and circumcised him eight days after his birth.^(K) Later Isaac became the father of Jacob,^(L) and Jacob became the father of the twelve patriarchs.^(M)

⁹“Because the patriarchs were jealous of Joseph,^(N) they sold him as a slave into Egypt.^(O) But God was with him^(P) ¹⁰and rescued him from all his troubles. He gave Joseph wisdom and enabled him to gain the goodwill of Pharaoh king of Egypt. So Pharaoh made him ruler over Egypt and all his palace.^(Q)

¹¹“Then a famine struck all Egypt and Canaan, bringing great suffering, and our ancestors could not find food.^(R) ¹²When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he sent our forefathers on their first visit.^(S) ¹³On their second visit, Joseph told his brothers who he was,^(T) and Pharaoh learned about Joseph’s family.^(U) ¹⁴After this, Joseph sent for his father Jacob and his whole family,^(V) seventy-five in all.^(W) ¹⁵Then Jacob went down to Egypt, where he and our ancestors died.^(X) ¹⁶Their bodies were brought back to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought from the sons of Hamor at Shechem for a certain sum of money.^(Y)

¹⁷“As the time drew near for God to fulfill his promise to Abraham, the number of our people in Egypt had greatly increased.^(Z) ¹⁸Then ‘a new king, to whom Joseph meant nothing, came to power in Egypt.’^[c]^(AA) ¹⁹He dealt treacherously with our people and oppressed our ancestors by forcing them to throw out their newborn babies so that they would die.^(AB)

²⁰“At that time Moses was born, and he was no ordinary child.^[d] For three months he was cared for by his family.^(AC) ²¹When he was placed outside, Pharaoh’s daughter took him and brought him up as her own son.^(AD) ²²Moses was educated in all the wisdom of the Egyptians^(AE) and was powerful in speech and action.

²³“When Moses was forty years old, he decided to visit his own people, the Israelites. ²⁴He saw one of them being mistreated by an Egyptian, so he went to his defense and avenged him by killing the Egyptian. ²⁵Moses thought that his own people would realize that God was using him to rescue them, but they did not. ²⁶The next day Moses came upon two Israelites who were fighting. He tried to reconcile them by saying, ‘Men, you are brothers; why do you want to hurt each other?’

²⁷“But the man who was mistreating the other pushed Moses aside and said, ‘Who made you ruler and judge over us?^(AF) ²⁸Are you thinking of killing me as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?’^[e] ²⁹When Moses heard this, he fled to Midian, where he settled as a foreigner and had two sons.^(AG)

³⁰“After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. ³¹When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say:^(AH) ³²‘I am the God of your fathers,^(AI) the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’^[f] Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.^(AJ)

³³“Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.^(AK) ³⁴I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’^[g]^(AL)

³⁵“This is the same Moses they had rejected with the words, ‘Who made you ruler and judge?’^(AM) He was sent to be their ruler and deliverer by God himself, through the angel who appeared to him in the bush. ³⁶He led them out of Egypt^(AN) and performed wonders and signs^(AO) in Egypt, at the Red Sea^(AP) and for forty years in the wilderness.^(AQ)

³⁷“This is the Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from your own people.’^[h]^(AR) ³⁸He was in the assembly in the wilderness, with the angel^(AS) who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our ancestors;^(AT) and he received living words^(AU) to pass on to us.^(AV)

³⁹“But our ancestors refused to obey him. Instead, they rejected him and in their hearts turned back to Egypt.^(AW) ⁴⁰They told Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses who led us out of Egypt—we don’t know what has happened to him!’^[i]^(AX) ⁴¹That was the time they made an idol in the form of a calf. They brought sacrifices to it and reveled in what their own hands had made.^(AY) ⁴²But God turned away from them^(AZ) and gave them over to the worship of the sun, moon and stars.^(BA) This agrees with what is written in the book of the prophets:

“‘Did you bring me sacrifices and offerings
    forty years in the wilderness, people of Israel?
⁴³You have taken up the tabernacle of Molek
    and the star of your god Rephan,
    the idols you made to worship.
Therefore I will send you into exile’^[j]^(BB) beyond Babylon.

⁴⁴“Our ancestors had the tabernacle of the covenant law^(BC) with them in the wilderness. It had been made as God directed Moses, according to the pattern he had seen.^(BD) ⁴⁵After receiving the tabernacle, our ancestors under Joshua brought it with them when they took the land from the nations God drove out before them.^(BE) It remained in the land until the time of David,^(BF) ⁴⁶who enjoyed God’s favor and asked that he might provide a dwelling place for the God of Jacob.^[k]^(BG) ⁴⁷But it was Solomon who built a house for him.^(BH)

⁴⁸“However, the Most High^(BI) does not live in houses made by human hands.^(BJ) As the prophet says:

⁴⁹“‘Heaven is my throne,
and the earth is my footstool.^(BK)
What kind of house will you build for me?
says the Lord.
Or where will my resting place be?
⁵⁰Has not my hand made all these things?’^[l]^(BL)

⁵¹“You stiff-necked people!^(BM) Your hearts^(BN) and ears are still uncircumcised. You are just like your ancestors: You always resist the Holy Spirit! ⁵²Was there ever a prophet your ancestors did not persecute?^(BO) They even killed those who predicted the coming of the Righteous One. And now you have betrayed and murdered him^(BP)— ⁵³you who have received the law that was given through angels^(BQ) but have not obeyed it.”

The Stoning of Stephen

⁵⁴When the members of the Sanhedrin heard this, they were furious^(BR) and gnashed their teeth at him. ⁵⁵But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit,^(BS) looked up to heaven and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God.^(BT) ⁵⁶“Look,” he said, “I see heaven open^(BU) and the Son of Man^(BV) standing at the right hand of God.”

⁵⁷At this they covered their ears and, yelling at the top of their voices, they all rushed at him, ⁵⁸dragged him out of the city^(BW) and began to stone him.^(BX) Meanwhile, the witnesses^(BY) laid their coats^(BZ) at the feet of a young man named Saul.^(CA)

⁵⁹While they were stoning him, Stephen prayed, “Lord Jesus, receive my spirit.”^(CB) ⁶⁰Then he fell on his knees^(CC) and cried out, “Lord, do not hold this sin against them.”^(CD) When he had said this, he fell asleep.^(CE)

Footnotes

Acts 7:3 Gen. 12:1
Acts 7:7 Gen. 15:13,14
Acts 7:18 Exodus 1:8
Acts 7:20 Or was fair in the sight of God
Acts 7:28 Exodus 2:14
Acts 7:32 Exodus 3:6
Acts 7:34 Exodus 3:5,7,8,10
Acts 7:37 Deut. 18:15
Acts 7:40 Exodus 32:1
Acts 7:43 Amos 5:25-27 (see Septuagint)
Acts 7:46 Some early manuscripts the house of Jacob
Acts 7:50 Isaiah 66:1,2

Romans 9-11

New International Version

Paul’s Anguish Over Israel

9 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying,^(A) my conscience confirms^(B) it through the Holy Spirit— ²I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³For I could wish that I myself^(C) were cursed^(D) and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people,^(E) those of my own race,^(F) ⁴the people of Israel.^(G) Theirs is the adoption to sonship;^(H) theirs the divine glory,^(I) the covenants,^(J) the receiving of the law,^(K) the temple worship^(L) and the promises.^(M) ⁵Theirs are the patriarchs,^(N) and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah,^(O) who is God over all,^(P) forever praised!^[a]^(Q) Amen.

God’s Sovereign Choice

⁶It is not as though God’s word^(R) had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.^(S) ⁷Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”^[b]^(T) ⁸In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children,^(U) but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.^(V) ⁹For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”^[c]^(W)

¹⁰Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac.^(X) ¹¹Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad^(Y)—in order that God’s purpose^(Z) in election might stand: ¹²not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”^[d]^(AA) ¹³Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”^[e]^(AB)

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

“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”^[f]^(AE)

¹⁶It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.^(AF) ¹⁷For 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.”^[g]^(AG) ¹⁸Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.^(AH)

¹⁹One of you will say to me:^(AI) “Then why does God still blame us?^(AJ) For who is able to resist his will?”^(AK) ²⁰But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?^(AL) “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,^(AM) ‘Why did you make me like this?’”^[h]^(AN) ²¹Does 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?^(AO)

²²What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience^(AP) the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?^(AQ) ²³What if he did this to make the riches of his glory^(AR) known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory^(AS)— ²⁴even us, whom he also called,^(AT) not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?^(AU) ²⁵As he says in Hosea:

“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”^[i]^(AV)

²⁶and,

“In the very place where it was said to them,
‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”^[j]^(AW)

²⁷Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,^(AX)
only the remnant will be saved.^(AY)
²⁸For the Lord will carry out
his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”^[k]^(AZ)

²⁹It is just as Isaiah said previously:

“Unless the Lord Almighty^(BA)
had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah.”^[l]^(BB)

Israel’s Unbelief

³⁰What then shall we say?^(BC) That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;^(BD) ³¹but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness,^(BE) have not attained their goal.^(BF) ³²Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.^(BG) ³³As it is written:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble
and a rock that makes them fall,
and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”^[m]^(BH)

10 Brothers and sisters, my heart’s desire^(BI) and prayer to God for the Israelites is that they may be saved. ²For I can testify about them that they are zealous^(BJ) for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. ³Since they did not know the righteousness of God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness.^(BK) ⁴Christ is the culmination of the law^(BL) so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.^(BM)

⁵Moses writes this about the righteousness that is by the law: “The person who does these things will live by them.”^[n]^(BN) ⁶But the righteousness that is by faith^(BO) says: “Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’”^[o]^(BP) (that is, to bring Christ down) ⁷“or ‘Who will descend into the deep?’”^[p]^(BQ) (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead).^(BR) ⁸But what does it say? “The word is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart,”^[q]^(BS) that is, the message concerning faith that we proclaim: ⁹If you declare^(BT) with your mouth, “Jesus is Lord,”^(BU) and believe^(BV) in your heart that God raised him from the dead,^(BW) you will be saved.^(BX) ¹⁰For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you profess your faith and are saved. ¹¹As Scripture says, “Anyone who believes in him will never be put to shame.”^[r]^(BY) ¹²For there is no difference between Jew and Gentile^(BZ)—the same Lord is Lord of all^(CA) and richly blesses all who call on him, ¹³for, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord^(CB) will be saved.”^[s]^(CC)

¹⁴How, then, can they call on the one they have not believed in? And how can they believe in the one of whom they have not heard? And how can they hear without someone preaching to them? ¹⁵And how can anyone preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who bring good news!”^[t]^(CD)

¹⁶But not all the Israelites accepted the good news.^(CE) For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our message?”^[u]^(CF) ¹⁷Consequently, faith comes from hearing the message,^(CG) and the message is heard through the word about Christ.^(CH) ¹⁸But I ask: Did they not hear? Of course they did:

“Their voice has gone out into all the earth,
their words to the ends of the world.”^[v]^(CI)

¹⁹Again I ask: Did Israel not understand? First, Moses says,

“I will make you envious^(CJ) by those who are not a nation;
I will make you angry by a nation that has no understanding.”^[w]^(CK)

²⁰And Isaiah boldly says,

“I was found by those who did not seek me;
I revealed myself to those who did not ask for me.”^[x]^(CL)

²¹But concerning Israel he says,

“All day long I have held out my hands
to a disobedient and obstinate people.”^[y]^(CM)

The Remnant of Israel

11 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means!^(CN) I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham,^(CO) from the tribe of Benjamin.^(CP) ²God did not reject his people,^(CQ) whom he foreknew.^(CR) Don’t you know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah—how he appealed to God against Israel: ³“Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me”^[z]?^(CS) ⁴And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”^[aa]^(CT) ⁵So too, at the present time there is a remnant^(CU) chosen by grace.^(CV) ⁶And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works;^(CW) if it were, grace would no longer be grace.

⁷What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain.^(CX) The elect among them did, but the others were hardened,^(CY) ⁸as it is written:

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that could not see
and ears that could not hear,^(CZ)
to this very day.”^[ab]^(DA)

⁹And David says:

“May their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them.

Footnotes

Romans 9:5 Or Messiah, who is over all. God be forever praised! Or Messiah. God who is over all be forever praised!
Romans 9:7 Gen. 21:12
Romans 9:9 Gen. 18:10,14
Romans 9:12 Gen. 25:23
Romans 9:13 Mal. 1:2,3
Romans 9:15 Exodus 33:19
Romans 9:17 Exodus 9:16
Romans 9:20 Isaiah 29:16; 45:9
Romans 9:25 Hosea 2:23
Romans 9:26 Hosea 1:10
Romans 9:28 Isaiah 10:22,23 (see Septuagint)
Romans 9:29 Isaiah 1:9
Romans 9:33 Isaiah 8:14; 28:16
Romans 10:5 Lev. 18:5
Romans 10:6 Deut. 30:12
Romans 10:7 Deut. 30:13
Romans 10:8 Deut. 30:14
Romans 10:11 Isaiah 28:16 (see Septuagint)
Romans 10:13 Joel 2:32
Romans 10:15 Isaiah 52:7
Romans 10:16 Isaiah 53:1
Romans 10:18 Psalm 19:4
Romans 10:19 Deut. 32:21
Romans 10:20 Isaiah 65:1
Romans 10:21 Isaiah 65:2
Romans 11:3 1 Kings 19:10,14
Romans 11:4 1 Kings 19:18
Romans 11:8 Deut. 29:4; Isaiah 29:10

Deuteronomy 9:6

New International Version

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Deuteronomy 9:28-29

New International Version

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Deuteronomy 31:27

New International Version

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