¹⁹ One of you will say to me:^(A) “Then why does God still blame us?^(B) For who is able to resist his will?”^{(C) 20} But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?^(D) “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,^(E) ‘Why did you make me like this?’”^{[a](F) 21} Does 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?^(G)

²² What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience^(H) the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?^{(I) 23} What if he did this to make the riches of his glory^(J) known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory^(K)— ²⁴ even us, whom he also called,^(L) not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?^(M)