¹⁹ You will say to me,^(A) therefore, “Why then does he still find fault?^(B) For who resists his will?” ^{(C) 20} On the contrary, who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?^(D) Will what is formed say to the one who formed it, “Why did you make me like this?” ^{(E) 21} Or has the potter no right over the clay,^(F) to make from the same lump one piece of pottery for honor and another for dishonor? ²² And what if God, wanting to display his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much patience^(G) objects of wrath prepared for destruction?^{(H) 23} And what if he did this to make known the riches of his glory^(I) on objects of mercy^(J) that he prepared beforehand for glory^(K)— ²⁴ on us, the ones he also called,^(L) not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?^{(M) 25} As it^[a] also says in Hosea,

²⁷ But Isaiah cries out concerning Israel,

²⁹ And just as Isaiah predicted:

Israel’s Present State

³⁰ What should we say then?^(U) Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained righteousness—namely the righteousness that comes from faith.^{(V) 31} But Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness,^(W) has not achieved the righteousness of the law.^{[g](X) 32} Why is that? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were by works.^[h] They stumbled over the stumbling stone.^{(Y) 33} As it is written,

Parable of the Potter

18 This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the Lord: ² “Go down at once to the potter’s house;^(A) there I will reveal my words to you.” ³ So I went down to the potter’s house, and there he was, working away at the wheel.^{[a] 4} But the jar that he was making from the clay became flawed in the potter’s hand, so he made it into another jar, as it seemed right for him to do.^(B)

⁵ The word of the Lord came to me: ⁶ “House of Israel, can I not treat you as this potter treats his clay?”—this is the Lord’s declaration. “Just like clay in the potter’s hand, so are you in my hand, house of Israel.^(C)

¹¹ In him we have also received an inheritance,^[a] because we were predestined^(A) according to the plan of the one who works out everything in agreement with the purpose of his will, ¹² so that we who had already put our hope^(B) in Christ might bring praise to his glory.^(C)

¹³ In him you also were sealed with the promised Holy Spirit^(D) when you heard the word of truth,^(E) the gospel of your salvation, and when you believed. ¹⁴ The Holy Spirit is the down payment^(F) of our inheritance, until the redemption of the possession, to the praise of his glory.