Romans 9:9-23

English Standard Version

⁹ For this is what the promise said: ^(A)“About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁰ And not only so, but ^(B)also when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, ¹¹ though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of ^(C)him who calls— ¹² she was told, ^(D)“The older will serve the younger.” ¹³ As it is written, ^(E)“Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

¹⁴ What shall we say then? ^(F)Is there injustice on God's part? By no means! ¹⁵ For he says to Moses, ^(G)“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” ¹⁶ So then it depends not on human will or exertion,^[a] but on God, who has mercy. ¹⁷ For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, ^(H)“For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” ¹⁸ So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

¹⁹ You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For ^(I)who can resist his will?” ²⁰ But who are you, O man, ^(J)to answer back to God? ^(K)Will what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” ^21 (L)Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump ^(M)one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? ²² What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience ^(N)vessels of wrath ^(O)prepared for destruction, ²³ in order to make known ^(P)the riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he ^(Q)has prepared beforehand for glory—