Romans 11
Worldwide English (New Testament)
11 So I ask, has God left his people? No, he has not! I myself am a Jew. I was born in Abraham's family. I belong to the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God has not left his people whom he knew from the first. Do you not know what the holy writings say about the prophet Elijah? He talked to God against the people of Israel.
3 He said, `Lord, they have killed your prophets. They have pulled down your holy places. I am the only one that is left, and they are trying to kill me.'
4 But what did God answer him? He said, `I have seven thousand men who have not kneeled down to the idol god Baal.'
5 So now some are left because God was kind to them, and chose them.
6 But if it was a gift because he was kind to them, then it was no longer because of the things they did. Or else a gift would no longer be a gift.
7 So what does that mean? The Jews did not get what they tried to get. Only the people God chose got it. The hearts of the rest of the people became hard.
8 The holy writings say, `God made them dull with sleep. He gave them eyes that could not see, and ears that could not hear. They have been like that until today.'
9 And David said long ago, `May the table where they eat be like a net and like a trap. May it make them fall down. May it punish them.
10 Make their eyes become blind so that they cannot see. Make their backs bent all the time.'
11 So I ask, `Have their feet been caught so that they have really fallen down?' No. But because they began to fall, the people who are not Jews were told how to be saved. That would make the Jews jealous.
12 The people who are not Jews have been richly blessed because the Jews failed. So it will be even better for them when the Jews no longer fail God.
13 Now I say this to you who are not Jews. I am an apostle to those who are not Jews, so I think highly of the work I have been sent to do.
14 I want the people of my own nation, the Jews, to be jealous. Then I may be able to save some of them.
15 God turned away from the Jews in order to bring the world back to himself. Then if that is true, when he takes the Jews back to himself, will not that be like making dead people live?
16 If the first piece of bread is holy, so is all the rest which came from the same bread mix. If the root of a tree is holy, the branches are holy also.
17 Maybe some of the tree's branches were broken off. And you, a branch from a wild olive tree, were made to grow on the tree among the branches. You then have the good water that comes from the root of the olive tree.
18 But do not think that you are better than the tree's own branches. If you do, remember it is not you that holds the root in place. But it is the root that holds you.
19 Then you will say, `The branches were broken off so that I might be joined to the tree.'
20 That is true. They were broken off because they did not believe. And you have your place only because you believe. So do not be proud, but fear.
21 If God punished the tree's own branches, he will punish you also.
22 See how kind God is. And see how hard he is. He is hard on those who have fallen. But God is kind to you if you go on following in his ways. If you do not, you also will be broken off.
23 God will also put back the other branches if they believe. God is able to put the Jews back where they belong.
24 You were cut off from a wild olive tree. And you were put on a good olive tree. That is not the way trees grow. But it can be done. And so, even more, the Jewish branches will be put back on their own olive tree.
25 My brothers, I want you to know something that has been a secret. Then you will not be proud of yourselves. The secret is this. Some Jews will have hard hearts until the right number of other people have come in.
26 Then all the Jews will be saved. The holy writings say, `Someone will come from Zion to save people. He will take away the wrong ways of our father Jacob.'
27 This will be my agreement with them when I take away the wrong things they have done.
28 The Jews make themselves enemies of God because they do not want the good news of Jesus Christ. That helps you since the good news has then come to you. But God still loves the Jews because of the promise he made to their fathers long ago.
29 God does not change his gifts or his call to people.
30 At one time you did not obey God. But now he has been kind to you because the Jews did not obey him.
31 So now, they also have not obeyed him. But he will also be kind to them because he was kind to you.
32 God allowed people to disobey him. He did it so that he might be kind and forgive all people.
33 God is very kind. He is very wise. He knows much. No one can understand why he judges the way he does. No one can find out why he does the things he does.
34 The holy writings say, `Who has known what the Lord thinks? Who has ever told him what to do?
35 Who has given a gift to God first, so that God would give him something also?'
36 All things come from God, through God, and return to God. Praise him for ever! Yes, it is so!
Romans 11
Young's Literal Translation
11 I say, then, Did God cast away His people? let it not be! for I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin:
2 God did not cast away His people whom He knew before; have ye not known -- in Elijah -- what the Writing saith? how he doth plead with God concerning Israel, saying,
3 `Lord, Thy prophets they did kill, and Thy altars they dug down, and I was left alone, and they seek my life;'
4 but what saith the divine answer to him? `I left to Myself seven thousand men, who did not bow a knee to Baal.'
5 So then also in the present time a remnant according to the choice of grace there hath been;
6 and if by grace, no more of works, otherwise the grace becometh no more grace; and if of works, it is no more grace, otherwise the work is no more work.
7 What then? What Israel doth seek after, this it did not obtain, and the chosen did obtain, and the rest were hardened,
8 according as it hath been written, `God gave to them a spirit of deep sleep, eyes not to see, and ears not to hear,' -- unto this very day,
9 and David saith, `Let their table become for a snare, and for a trap, and for a stumbling-block, and for a recompense to them;
10 let their eyes be darkened -- not to behold, and their back do Thou always bow down.'
11 I say, then, Did they stumble that they might fall? let it not be! but by their fall the salvation [is] to the nations, to arouse them to jealousy;
12 and if the fall of them [is] the riches of a world, and the diminution of them the riches of nations, how much more the fulness of them?
13 For to you I speak -- to the nations -- inasmuch as I am indeed an apostle of nations, my ministration I do glorify;
14 if by any means I shall arouse to jealousy mine own flesh, and shall save some of them,
15 for if the casting away of them [is] a reconciliation of the world, what the reception -- if not life out of the dead?
16 and if the first-fruit [is] holy, the lump also; and if the root [is] holy, the branches also.
17 And if certain of the branches were broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wast graffed in among them, and a fellow-partaker of the root and of the fatness of the olive tree didst become --
18 do not boast against the branches; and if thou dost boast, thou dost not bear the root, but the root thee!
19 Thou wilt say, then, `The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in;' right!
20 by unbelief they were broken off, and thou hast stood by faith; be not high-minded, but be fearing;
21 for if God the natural branches did not spare -- lest perhaps He also shall not spare thee.
22 Lo, then, goodness and severity of God -- upon those indeed who fell, severity; and upon thee, goodness, if thou mayest remain in the goodness, otherwise, thou also shalt be cut off.
23 And those also, if they may not remain in unbelief, shall be graffed in, for God is able again to graff them in;
24 for if thou, out of the olive tree, wild by nature, wast cut out, and, contrary to nature, wast graffed into a good olive tree, how much rather shall they, who [are] according to nature, be graffed into their own olive tree?
25 For I do not wish you to be ignorant, brethren, of this secret -- that ye may not be wise in your own conceits -- that hardness in part to Israel hath happened till the fulness of the nations may come in;
26 and so all Israel shall be saved, according as it hath been written, `There shall come forth out of Sion he who is delivering, and he shall turn away impiety from Jacob,
27 and this to them [is] the covenant from Me, when I may take away their sins.'
28 As regards, indeed, the good tidings, [they are] enemies on your account; and as regards the choice -- beloved on account of the fathers;
29 for unrepented of [are] the gifts and the calling of God;
30 for as ye also once did not believe in God, and now did find kindness by the unbelief of these:
31 so also these now did not believe, that in your kindness they also may find kindness;
32 for God did shut up together the whole to unbelief, that to the whole He might do kindness.
33 O depth of riches, and wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
34 for who did know the mind of the Lord? or who did become His counsellor?
35 or who did first give to Him, and it shall be given back to him again?
36 because of Him, and through Him, and to Him [are] the all things; to Him [is] the glory -- to the ages. Amen.
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