¹⁶ And as for all who walk by this rule, ^(A)peace and mercy be upon them, and upon ^(B)the Israel of God.

²⁹ And ^(A)if you are Christ's, then you are Abraham's offspring, ^(B)heirs according to promise.

³ For ^(A)we are the circumcision, ^(B)who worship ^(C)by the Spirit of God^[a] and ^(D)glory in Christ Jesus and put no confidence in the flesh—

⁶ But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, ⁷ and not all are children of Abraham ^(A)because they are his offspring, but ^(B)“Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” ⁸ This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but ^(C)the children of the promise are counted as offspring.

^5 (A)you yourselves like living stones are being built up as ^(B)a spiritual house, to be ^(C)a holy priesthood, ^(D)to offer spiritual sacrifices ^(E)acceptable to God through Jesus Christ. ⁶ For it stands in Scripture:

⁷ So the honor is for you who ^(H)believe, but for those who ^(I)do not believe,

⁸ and

They stumble because they disobey the word, ^(L)as they were destined to do.

⁹ But you are ^(M)a chosen race, ^(N)a royal ^(O)priesthood, ^(P)a holy nation, ^(Q)a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you ^(R)out of darkness into ^(S)his marvelous light.

⁷ Know then that it is ^(A)those of faith who are ^(B)the sons of Abraham. ⁸ And the Scripture, foreseeing that ^(C)God would justify^[a] the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, ^(D)“In you shall all the nations be blessed.” ⁹ So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

¹² and to make him the father of the circumcised who are not merely circumcised but who also walk in the footsteps of the faith that our father Abraham had before he was circumcised.

^10 [a] Yet ^(A)the number of the children of Israel shall be ^(B)like the sand of the sea, which cannot be measured or numbered. ^(C)And ^(D)in the place where it was said to them, ^(E)“You are not my people,” it shall be said to them, ^(F)“Children^[b] of ^(G)the living God.”

²⁸ For ^(A)no one is a Jew ^(B)who is merely one outwardly, nor is circumcision outward and physical. ²⁹ But a Jew is one ^(C)inwardly, and ^(D)circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. ^(E)His praise is not from man but from God.