Romans 9:1-15

Easy-to-Read Version

God and the Jewish People

9 I am in Christ and I am telling you the truth. I am not lying. And my conscience, ruled by the Holy Spirit, agrees that what I say now is true. ² I have great sorrow and always feel much sadness ³ for my own people. They are my brothers and sisters, my earthly family. I wish I could help them. I would even have a curse on me and cut myself off from Christ if that would help them. ⁴ They are the people of Israel, God’s chosen children. They have the glory of God and the agreements he made between himself and his people. God gave them the Law of Moses, the Temple worship, and his promises. ⁵ They are the descendants of our great fathers, and they are the earthly family of the Messiah, who is God over all things. Praise him forever!^[a] Amen.

⁶ I don’t mean that God failed to keep his promise to the Jewish people. But only some of the people of Israel are really God’s people.^{[b] 7} And only some of Abraham’s descendants are true children of Abraham. This is what God said to Abraham: “Your true descendants will be those who come through Isaac.”^{[c] 8} This means that not all of Abraham’s descendants are God’s true children. Abraham’s true children are those who become God’s children because of the promise he made to Abraham. ⁹ Here is what God said in that promise: “About this time next year I will come back, and Sarah will have a son.”^[d]

¹⁰ And that is not all. Rebecca also had sons, and they had the same father. He is our father Isaac. ^11-12 But before the two sons were born, God told Rebecca, “The older son will serve the younger.”^[e] This was before the boys had done anything good or bad. God said this before they were born so that the boy he wanted would be chosen because of God’s own plan. He was chosen because he was the one God wanted to call, not because of anything the boys did. ¹³ As the Scriptures say, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.”^[f]

¹⁴ So what does this mean? That God is not fair? We cannot say that. ¹⁵ God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I want to show mercy to. I will show pity to anyone I choose.”^[g]