¹⁶ If the dough offered as first fruits is holy, so is the whole lump; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

¹⁷ But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the richness^[a] of the olive tree, ¹⁸ do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you. ¹⁹ You will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” ²⁰ That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe. ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. ²² Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God’s kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off. ²³ And even the others, if they do not persist in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again. ²⁴ For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree.