Romans 9:19-10:4

English Standard Version

¹⁹You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For ^(A)who can resist his will?” ²⁰But who are you, O man, ^(B)to answer back to God? ^(C)Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” ²¹^(D)Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump ^(E)one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? ²²What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience ^(F)vessels of wrath ^(G)prepared for destruction, ²³in order to make known ^(H)the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he ^(I)has prepared beforehand for glory— ²⁴even us whom he ^(J)has called, ^(K)not from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? ²⁵As indeed he says in Hosea,

^(L)“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’
and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”
²⁶^(M)“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ^(N)‘sons of the living God.’”

²⁷And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: ^(O)“Though the number of the sons of Israel^[a] be as the sand of the sea, ^(P)only a remnant of them will be saved, ²⁸for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” ²⁹And as Isaiah predicted,

^(Q)^(R)“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,
^(S)we would have been like Sodom
and become like Gomorrah.”

Israel's Unbelief

³⁰What shall we say, then? ^(T)That Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, ^(U)a righteousness that is by faith; ³¹but that Israel ^(V)who pursued a law that would lead to righteousness^[b] ^(W)did not succeed in reaching that law. ³²Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the ^(X)stumbling stone, ³³as it is written,

^(Y)“Behold, I am laying in Zion ^(Z)a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;
^(AA)and whoever believes in him will not be ^(AB)put to shame.”

10 Brothers,^[c] my heart's desire and prayer to God for them is that they may be saved. ²For I bear them witness that ^(AC)they have a zeal for God, ^(AD)but not according to knowledge. ³For, being ignorant of ^(AE)the righteousness of God, and seeking to establish their own, they did not submit to God's righteousness. ⁴For ^(AF)Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes.^[d]