The True Vine

15 “I am the true vine, and My Father is the vinedresser. ^2 (A)Every branch in Me that does not bear fruit He ^[a]takes away; and every branch that bears fruit He prunes, that it may bear ^(B)more fruit. ^3 (C)You are already clean because of the word which I have spoken to you. ^4 (D)Abide in Me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, unless it abides in the vine, neither can you, unless you abide in Me.

⁵ “I am the vine, you are the branches. He who abides in Me, and I in him, bears much ^(E)fruit; for without Me you can do ^(F)nothing. ⁶ If anyone does not abide in Me, ^(G)he is cast out as a branch and is withered; and they gather them and throw them into the fire, and they are burned. ⁷ If you abide in Me, and My words ^(H)abide in you, ^(I)you^[b] will ask what you desire, and it shall be done for you. ^8 (J)By this My Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit; ^(K)so you will be My disciples.

Love and Joy Perfected

⁹ “As the Father ^(L)loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. ^10 (M)If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

¹¹ “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and ^(N)that your joy may be full. ^12 (O)This is My ^(P)commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ^13 (Q)Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. ^14 (R)You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, ^(S)for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you. ^16 (T)You did not choose Me, but I chose you and ^(U)appointed you that you should go and bear fruit, and that your fruit should remain, that whatever you ask the Father ^(V)in My name He may give you. ¹⁷ These things I command you, that you love one another.

Inheritance Laws

27 Then came the daughters of ^(A)Zelophehad the son of Hepher, the son of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh, from the families of Manasseh the son of Joseph; and these were the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. ² And they stood before Moses, before Eleazar the priest, and before the leaders and all the congregation, by the doorway of the tabernacle of meeting, saying: ³ “Our father ^(B)died in the wilderness; but he was not in the company of those who gathered together against the Lord, ^(C)in company with Korah, but he died in his own sin; and he had no sons. ⁴ Why should the name of our father be ^(D)removed^[a] from among his family because he had no son? ^(E)Give us a ^[b]possession among our father’s brothers.”

⁵ So Moses ^(F)brought their case before the Lord.

⁶ And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: ⁷ “The daughters of Zelophehad speak what is right; ^(G)you shall surely give them a possession of inheritance among their father’s brothers, and cause the inheritance of their father to pass to them. ⁸ And you shall speak to the children of Israel, saying: ‘If a man dies and has no son, then you shall cause his inheritance to pass to his daughter. ⁹ If he has no daughter, then you shall give his inheritance to his brothers. ¹⁰ If he has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to his father’s brothers. ¹¹ And if his father has no brothers, then you shall give his inheritance to the relative closest to him in his family, and he shall possess it.’ ” And it shall be to the children of Israel ^(H)a statute of judgment, just as the Lord commanded Moses.

Joshua the Next Leader of Israel^(I)

¹² Now the Lord said to Moses: ^(J)“Go up into this Mount Abarim, and see the land which I have given to the children of Israel. ¹³ And when you have seen it, you also ^(K)shall ^[c]be gathered to your people, as Aaron your brother was gathered. ¹⁴ For in the Wilderness of Zin, during the strife of the congregation, you ^(L)rebelled against My command to hallow Me at the waters before their eyes.” (These are the ^(M)waters of Meribah, at Kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin.)

¹⁵ Then Moses spoke to the Lord, saying: ¹⁶ “Let the Lord, ^(N)the God of the spirits of all flesh, set a man over the congregation, ^17 (O)who may go out before them and go in before them, who may lead them out and bring them in, that the congregation of the Lord may not be ^(P)like sheep which have no shepherd.”

¹⁸ And the Lord said to Moses: “Take Joshua the son of Nun with you, a man ^(Q)in whom is the Spirit, and ^(R)lay your hand on him; ¹⁹ set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation, and ^(S)inaugurate^[d] him in their sight. ²⁰ And ^(T)you shall give some of your authority to him, that all the congregation of the children of Israel ^(U)may be obedient. ^21 (V)He shall stand before Eleazar the priest, who shall inquire before the Lord for him ^(W)by the judgment of the Urim. ^(X)At his word they shall go out, and at his word they shall come in, he and all the children of Israel with him—all the congregation.”

²² So Moses did as the Lord commanded him. He took Joshua and set him before Eleazar the priest and before all the congregation. ²³ And he laid his hands on him ^(Y)and ^[e]inaugurated him, just as the Lord commanded by the hand of Moses.

Israel’s Rejection of Christ

9 I ^(A)tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, ^2 (B)that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. ³ For ^(C)I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my ^[a]countrymen according to the flesh, ⁴ who are Israelites, ^(D)to whom pertain the adoption, ^(E)the glory, ^(F)the covenants, ^(G)the giving of the law, ^(H)the service of God, and ^(I)the promises; ^5 (J)of whom are the fathers and from ^(K)whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, ^(L)who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen.

Israel’s Rejection and God’s Purpose^(M)

^6 (N)But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For ^(O)they are not all Israel who are of Israel, ^7 (P)nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, ^(Q)“In Isaac your seed shall be called.” ⁸ That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but ^(R)the children of the promise are counted as the seed. ⁹ For this is the word of promise: ^(S)“At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.”

¹⁰ And not only this, but when ^(T)Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac 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 ^(U)Him who calls), ¹² it was said to her, ^(V)“The older shall serve the younger.” ¹³ As it is written, ^(W)“Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”

Israel’s Rejection and God’s Justice

¹⁴ What shall we say then? ^(X)Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! ¹⁵ For He says to Moses, ^(Y)“I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” ¹⁶ So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. ¹⁷ For ^(Z)the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, ^(AA)“For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” ¹⁸ Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He ^(AB)hardens.

¹⁹ You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For ^(AC)who has resisted His will?” ²⁰ But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? ^(AD)Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” ²¹ Does not the ^(AE)potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make ^(AF)one vessel for honor and another for dishonor?

²² What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering ^(AG)the vessels of wrath ^(AH)prepared for destruction, ²³ and that He might make known ^(AI)the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had ^(AJ)prepared beforehand for glory, ²⁴ even us whom He ^(AK)called, ^(AL)not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

²⁵ As He says also in Hosea:

²⁷ Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel:

²⁹ And as Isaiah said before:

Present Condition of Israel

³⁰ What shall we say then? ^(AT)That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, ^(AU)even the righteousness of faith; ³¹ but Israel, ^(AV)pursuing the law of righteousness, ^(AW)has not attained to the law ^[d]of righteousness. ³² Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, ^[e]by the works of the law. For ^(AX)they stumbled at that stumbling stone. ³³ As it is written:

Israel Needs the Gospel

10 Brethren, my heart’s desire and prayer to God for ^[a]Israel is that they may be saved. ² For I bear them witness ^(A)that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. ³ For they being ignorant of ^(B)God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own ^(C)righteousness, have not submitted to the righteousness of God. ⁴ For ^(D)Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.

⁵ For Moses writes about the righteousness which is of the law, ^(E)“The man who does those things shall live by them.” ⁶ But the righteousness of faith speaks in this way, ^(F)“Do not say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ down from above) ⁷ or, ^(G)“ ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ ” (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead). ⁸ But what does it say? ^(H)“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart” (that is, the word of faith which we preach): ⁹ that ^(I)if you confess with your mouth the Lord Jesus and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you will be saved. ¹⁰ For with the heart one believes unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.