Israel Is Not Cast Away

11 I say then, has God rejected and disowned His people? Certainly not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.^{(A) 2} God has not rejected His [chosen] people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?^{(B) 3} “Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars, and I alone am left [of the prophets], and they are seeking my life.” ⁴ But what is God’s response to him? “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”^{(C) 5} So too then, at the present time there has come to be a remnant [a small believing minority] according to God’s gracious choice. ⁶ But if it is by grace [God’s unmerited favor], it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace [it would not be a gift but a reward for works].

⁷ What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking [that is, God’s favor by obedience to the Law], but the elect [those chosen few] obtained it, while the rest of them became hardened and callously indifferent; ⁸ just as it is written [in Scripture],

⁹ And David says,