Romans 9
Easy-to-Read Version
God and the Jewish People
9 I am in Christ and I am telling you the truth. I am not lying. And my conscience, ruled by the Holy Spirit, agrees that what I say now is true. 2 I have great sorrow and always feel much sadness 3 for my own people. They are my brothers and sisters, my earthly family. I wish I could help them. I would even have a curse on me and cut myself off from Christ if that would help them. 4 They are the people of Israel, God’s chosen children. They have the glory of God and the agreements he made between himself and his people. God gave them the Law of Moses, the Temple worship, and his promises. 5 They are the descendants of our great fathers, and they are the earthly family of the Messiah, who is God over all things. Praise him forever![a] Amen.
6 I don’t mean that God failed to keep his promise to the Jewish people. But only some of the people of Israel are really God’s people.[b] 7 And only some of Abraham’s descendants are true children of Abraham. This is what God said to Abraham: “Your true descendants will be those who come through Isaac.”[c] 8 This means that not all of Abraham’s descendants are God’s true children. Abraham’s true children are those who become God’s children because of the promise he made to Abraham. 9 Here is what God said in that promise: “About this time next year I will come back, and Sarah will have a son.”[d]
10 And that is not all. Rebecca also had sons, and they had the same father. He is our father Isaac. 11-12 But before the two sons were born, God told Rebecca, “The older son will serve the younger.”[e] This was before the boys had done anything good or bad. God said this before they were born so that the boy he wanted would be chosen because of God’s own plan. He was chosen because he was the one God wanted to call, not because of anything the boys did. 13 As the Scriptures say, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.”[f]
14 So what does this mean? That God is not fair? We cannot say that. 15 God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I want to show mercy to. I will show pity to anyone I choose.”[g] 16 So God will choose anyone he decides to show mercy to, and his choice does not depend on what people want or try to do. 17 In the Scriptures God says to Pharaoh: “I made you king so that you could do this for me. I wanted to show my power through you. I wanted my name to be announced throughout the world.”[h] 18 So God shows mercy to those he wants to show mercy to and makes stubborn those he wants to make stubborn.
19 So one of you will ask me, “If God controls what we do, why does he blame us for our sins?” 20 Don’t ask that. You are only human and have no right to question God. A clay jar does not question the one who made it. It does not say, “Why did you make me like this?” 21 The one who makes the jar can make anything he wants. He uses the same clay to make different things. He might make one thing for special purposes and another for daily use.
22 It is the same way with what God has done. He wanted to show his anger and to let people see his power. But he patiently endured those he was angry with—people who were ready to be destroyed. 23 He waited with patience so that he could make known the riches of his glory to the people he has chosen to receive his mercy. God has already prepared them to share his glory. 24 We are those people, the ones God chose not only from the Jews but also from those who are not Jews. 25 As the Scriptures say in the book of Hosea,
“The people who are not mine—
I will say they are my people.
And the people I did not love—
I will say they are the people I love.” (A)
26 And,
“Where God said in the past,
‘You are not my people’—
there they will be called children of the living God.” (B)
27 And Isaiah cries out about Israel:
“There are so many people of Israel,
they are like the grains of sand by the sea.
But only a few of them will be saved.
28 Yes, the Lord will quickly finish judging the people on the earth.” (C)
29 It is just as Isaiah said:
“The Lord All-Powerful
allowed some of our people to live.
If he had not done that,
we would now be like Sodom,
and we would be like Gomorrah.” (D)
30 So what does all this mean? It means that people who are not Jews were made right with God because of their faith, even though they were not trying to make themselves right. 31 And the people of Israel, who tried to make themselves right with God by following the law, did not succeed. 32 They failed because they tried to make themselves right by the things they did. They did not trust in God to make them right. They fell over the stone that makes people fall. 33 The Scriptures talk about that stone:
“Look, I put in Zion a stone that will make people stumble.
It is a rock that will make people fall.
But anyone who trusts in him
will never be disappointed.” (E)
Footnotes
- Romans 9:5 Messiah, who is … forever! Or “Messiah. May God, who rules over all things, be praised forever!”
- Romans 9:6 God’s people Literally, “Israel,” the people God chose to bring his blessings to the world.
- Romans 9:7
Quote from Gen. 21:12. - Romans 9:9
Quote from Gen. 18:10, 14. - Romans 9:11
Quote from Gen. 25:23. - Romans 9:13
Quote from Mal. 1:2-3. - Romans 9:15
Quote from Ex. 33:19. - Romans 9:17
Quote from Ex. 9:16.
Kehillah in Rome 9
Orthodox Jewish Bible
9 I speak HaEmes in Moshiach, I do not speak sheker, my matzpun (conscience) bearing me eidus (witness) in the Ruach HaKodesh,
2 That there is great agmat nefesh to me and unceasing anguish in my heart.
3 For I could wish that my neshamah be put under cherem (ban of destruction), under Churban, and Onesh Gehinnom, cut off from Moshiach for the sake of my achim, my own kinsmen, my people and flesh and blood relatives,
4 In as much as they are Bnei Yisroel: theirs is the Mishpat HaBanim Adoption, the Ma’amad HaBanim Standing as Sons, and the Kavod (glory) and the Shechinah (glorious presence of G-d) and the Beritot (covenants), the Torah, the Avodas Kodesh (worship) and the Havtachot (promises);
5 Theirs are the Avot (the Patriarchs), and from them came, in so far as his humanity is concerned, Rebbe, Melech HaMoshiach, al hakol hu HaElohim mam’vorach l’Olam va’ed. Omein.
6 But it is not as though the Dvar Hashem has failed. For not all those descended from Yisroel are truly redeemed Yisroel (of the eschatological Geulah Redemption).
7 Nor is it as though all the banim of K’lal Yisroel are the ZERA of Avraham Avinu, but (as it is written) BEYITZCHAK YIKARE L’CHA ZERA ("In Yitzchak shall your seed be called, named, summoned" BERESHIS 21:12).
8 That is, it is not the b’nei habasar (old humanity without hitkhadshut) who are the b’nei HaElohim (children of G-d) but the b’nei HaHavtachah (children of the promise) who are reckoned as ZERA (seed, children, including the right of the heir in relation to the father).
9 For this word is one of havtachah (promise): KA’ET SHOV ASHUV UL’SARAH BEN ("About this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son" BERESHIS 18:10,14).
10 Not only so, but also in the case of Rivkah (Isaac’s wife) who conceived by the one act of sexual intercourse with Yitzchak Avinu.
11 For when they were not yet born nor had they done anything tov or rah, in order that the etzah (wisdom) of the tochnit Hashem (purposeful and willed plan of G-d Ro 8:28) should stand in terms of bechirah (divine election, selection, choosing),
12 Not from Ma’asim (Works) but from the One who makes the kri’ah (divine summons, call), it was said to her, RAV YA’AVOD TZA’IR ("the elder will serve the younger" BERESHIS 25:23),
13 As it is written, VA’OHAV ES YA’AKOV V’ES ESAV SANEITI ("Ya’akov have I loved, but Esau have I hated" MALACHI 1:2-3).
14 What then shall we say? There is no avla (injustice) with G-d, is there? Chas v’shalom!
15 For to Moshe Rabbeinu Hashem says, V’CHANNOTI ES ASHER ACHON V’RICHAMETTI ES ASHER ARACHEM ("I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion" SHEMOT 33:19).
16 So then, it is not a matter of the one who wills or the one who runs. It is a matter of the YAD HASHEM HACHANINAH (the hand of the G-d of gracious, free mercy).
17 For the Kitvei Hakodesh says to Pharaoh, BA’AVUR ZOT HE’EMADTICHA BA’AVUR HAROTECHA ES KOCHI ULEMA’AN SAPER SHMI BECHOL HA’ARETZ ("For this purpose I raised you up, in order that I might demonstrate in you my power and in order that my Name might be proclaimed in all the earth" SHEMOT 9:16).
18 So then, to whom Hashem wills Hashem shows chaninah (mercy, free grace), but whom Hashem wills he hardens (that is, makes unresponsive or more mired down in KESHI (stubbornness, hardness)[DEVARIM 9:27].
19 You will say to me, “Then why does Hashem still find fault? For who has resisted His will?"
20 On the contrary, who are you, a human being, to answer back to G-d? VEYETZER AMAR LEYOTZRO ("Can the pot say to the potter" YESHAYAH 29:16), "Why have you made me thus?"
21 Or does the potter not have the right over the clay [YIRMEYAH 18:6] to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?
22 But what if naniach (supposing) Hashem, willing to demonstrate His Charon Af Hashem (burning anger of G-d) and to make known His ko’ach (power)[1:18,16], put up with and endured with zitzfleisch (patience) vessels which are objects of G-d’s Charon Af (burning anger), objects made ready for Churban [9:3],
23 And in order that He might make known the wealth of His kavod (glory) on vessels which are objects of Hashem’s chaninah (mercy, free grace) which He prepared beforehand for kavod? [8:29-30]
24 By which I mean us, whom also He called, not only from the Yehudim but also from the non-Jews,
25 As it says in Hoshea, V’AMARTI L’LO AMMI AMI ATAH ("And I will call the ‘not my people’ my people" HOSHEA 2:25 [23]) and the ‘not loved’ loved;
26 "And it shall be in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they shall be called B’NEI EL CHAI ("sons of the living G-d—HOSHEA 2:1)"
27 Yeshayah proclaims concerning Yisroel, "Even if the number of the Bnei Yisroel are as the sand of the sea, only the She’erit (Remnant) will return (be saved),
28 For Hashem will complete and cut short and will perform His Word on the earth YESHAYAH 10:22-23.
29 And as Yeshayah said beforehand, "Except Adonoi Tzvaot had left us SARID KIM’AT ("some survivors" (Ro 9:7), we would have become like S’dom and we would have been the same as Amora" [YESHAYAH 1:9].
30 What then shall we say? That Goyim who do not pursue Tzedek (righteousness) have attained Tzedek which is Tzedek through emunah,
31 Whereas Yisroel pursuing a Tzedek (righteousness) based on the Torah (see Ga 3:12-13) did not arrive at that Torah?
32 Why so? Because it was not on the mekor (basis) of emunah but on the mekor (basis) of [zechus-earning] ma’asim (works 3:20,28; 4:2,6; 9:11-12). They have stumbled over the EVEN NEGEF ("Stone of Stumbling" Isa 8:14; 28:16),
33 As it is written "Hinei, I place in Tziyon a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; and he who believes in Me shall not be put to shame" (Isa 8:14; 28:16).
Römer 9
Schlachter 1951
Paulus und Israel
9 Ich sage die Wahrheit in Christus, ich lüge nicht, wie mir mein Gewissen bezeugt im heiligen Geist, 2 daß ich große Traurigkeit und unablässigen Schmerz in meinem Herzen habe. 3 Ich wünschte nämlich, selber von Christus verbannt zu sein für meine Brüder, meine Verwandten nach dem Fleisch, 4 welche Israeliten sind, denen die Kindschaft und die Herrlichkeit und die Bündnisse und die Gesetzgebung und der Gottesdienst und die Verheißungen gehören; 5 ihnen gehören auch die Väter an, und von ihnen stammt dem Fleische nach Christus, der da ist über alle, hochgelobter Gott, in Ewigkeit. Amen!
6 Nicht aber, als ob das Wort Gottes nun hinfällig wäre! Denn nicht alle, die von Israel abstammen, sind Israel; 7 auch sind nicht alle, weil sie Abrahams Same sind, seine Kinder, sondern „in Isaak soll dir ein Same berufen werden“; 8 das heißt: Nicht die Kinder des Fleisches sind Kinder Gottes, sondern die Kinder der Verheißung werden als Same gerechnet. 9 Denn das ist ein Wort der Verheißung: „Um diese Zeit will ich kommen, und Sara soll einen Sohn haben,“ 10 Und nicht dieses allein, sondern auch, als Rebekka von ein und demselben, von unserm Vater Isaak schwanger war, 11 ehe die Kinder geboren waren und weder Gutes noch Böses getan hatten auf daß der nach der Erwählung gefaßte Vorsatz Gottes bestehe, nicht um der Werke, sondern um des Berufers willen -, 12 wurde zu ihr gesagt: „Der Größere wird dem Kleineren dienen “; 13 wie auch geschrieben steht: „Jakob habe ich geliebt, aber Esau habe ich gehaßt.“
Die Souveränität Gottes
14 Was wollen wir nun sagen! Ist etwa bei Gott Ungerechtigkeit? Das sei ferne! 15 Denn zu Mose spricht er: „Welchem ich gnädig bin, dem bin ich gnädig, und wessen ich mich erbarme, dessen erbarme ich mich.“ 16 So liegt es nun nicht an jemandes Wollen oder Laufen, sondern an Gottes Erbarmen. 17 Denn die Schrift sagt zum Pharao: „Eben dazu habe ich dich erweckt, daß ich an dir meine Macht erweise und daß mein Name verkündigt werde auf der ganzen Erde[a]." 18 So erbarmt er sich nun, wessen er will, und verstockt, wen er will.
19 Nun wirst du mich fragen: Warum tadelt er dann noch? Wer kann seinem Willen widerstehen? 20 Nun ja, lieber Mensch, wer bist denn du, daß du mit Gott rechten willst? Spricht auch das Gebilde zu seinem Bildner: Warum hast du mich so gemacht? 21 Hat nicht der Töpfer Macht über den Ton, aus derselben Masse das eine Gefäß zur Ehre, das andere zur Unehre zu machen?
22 Wenn aber Gott, da er seinen Zorn erzeigen und seine Macht kundtun wollte, mit großer Geduld die Gefäße des Zorns getragen hat, die zum Verderben zugerichtet sind, 23 damit er auch den Reichtum seiner Herrlichkeit an den Gefäßen der Barmherzigkeit kundtäte, die er zuvor zur Herrlichkeit bereitet hat, 24 wie er denn als solche auch uns berufen hat, nicht allein aus den Juden, sondern auch aus den Heiden, [was dann?] 25 Wie er auch durch Hosea spricht: „Ich will das mein Volk nennen, was nicht mwein Volk war, und Geliebte, die nicht die Gelebte war, 26 und es soll geschehen an dem Ort, wo zu ihnen gesagt wurde: Ihr seid nicht mein Volk, da sollen sie Kinder des lebendigen Gottes genannt werden.“ 27 Jesaja aber ruft über Israel aus:
„Wenn die Zahl der Kinder Israel wäre wie der Sand am Meer, so wird [doch nur] der Überrest gerettet werden 28 denn eine abschließende und beschleunigte Abrechnung in Gerechtigkeit wird der Herr auf Erden veranstalten, ja eine summarische Abrechnung1!“
29 Und, wie Jesaja vorhergesagt hat: „Hätte der Herr der Heerscharen uns nicht eine Nachkommenschaft übrigbleiben lassen, so wären wir wie Sodom geworden und gleich wie Gomorra!“
Israel und die Gerechtigkeit aus dem Glauben
30 Was wollen wir nun sagen? Daß Heiden, welche nicht nach Gerechtigkeit strebten, Gerechtigkeit erlangt haben, nämlich Gerechtigkeit, die aus dem Glauben kommt, 31 daß aber Israel, welches dem Gesetz der Gerechtigkeit nachjagte, dem Gesetz nicht nachgekommen ist. 32 Warum? Weil es nicht aus Glauben geschah, sondern aus Werken. Sie haben sich gestoßen an dem Stein des Anstoßes, 33 wie geschrieben steht:
„Siehe, ich lege in Zion einen Stein des Anstoßes und einen Fels des Ärgernisses; und wer an ihn glaubt, wird nicht zuschanden werden[b]!“
Footnotes
- Römer 9:17
- Römer 9:33 +Js 8:14; 28:16
Romans 9
The Message
God Is Calling His People
9 1-5 At the same time, you need to know that I carry with me at all times a huge sorrow. It’s an enormous pain deep within me, and I’m never free of it. I’m not exaggerating—Christ and the Holy Spirit are my witnesses. It’s the Israelites . . . If there were any way I could be cursed by the Messiah so they could be blessed by him, I’d do it in a minute. They’re my family. I grew up with them. They had everything going for them—family, glory, covenants, revelation, worship, promises, to say nothing of being the race that produced the Messiah, the Christ, who is God over everything, always. Oh, yes!
6-9 Don’t suppose for a moment, though, that God’s Word has malfunctioned in some way or other. The problem goes back a long way. From the outset, not all Israelites of the flesh were Israelites of the spirit. It wasn’t Abraham’s sperm that gave identity here, but God’s promise. Remember how it was put: “Your family will be defined by Isaac”? That means that Israelite identity was never racially determined by sexual transmission, but it was God-determined by promise. Remember that promise, “When I come back next year at this time, Sarah will have a son”?
10-13 And that’s not the only time. To Rebecca, also, a promise was made that took priority over genetics. When she became pregnant by our one-of-a-kind ancestor, Isaac, and her babies were still innocent in the womb—incapable of good or bad—she received a special assurance from God. What God did in this case made it perfectly plain that his purpose is not a hit-or-miss thing dependent on what we do or don’t do, but a sure thing determined by his decision, flowing steadily from his initiative. God told Rebecca, “The firstborn of your twins will take second place.” Later that was turned into a stark epigram: “I loved Jacob; I hated Esau.”
14-18 Is that grounds for complaining that God is unfair? Not so fast, please. God told Moses, “I’m in charge of mercy. I’m in charge of compassion.” Compassion doesn’t originate in our bleeding hearts or moral sweat, but in God’s mercy. The same point was made when God said to Pharaoh, “I picked you as a bit player in this drama of my salvation power.” All we’re saying is that God has the first word, initiating the action in which we play our part for better or worse.
19 Are you going to object, “So how can God blame us for anything since he’s in charge of everything? If the big decisions are already made, what say do we have in it?”
20-33 Who in the world do you think you are to second-guess God? Do you for one moment suppose any of us knows enough to call God into question? Clay doesn’t talk back to the fingers that mold it, saying, “Why did you shape me like this?” Isn’t it obvious that a potter has a perfect right to shape one lump of clay into a vase for holding flowers and another into a pot for cooking beans? If God needs one style of pottery especially designed to show his angry displeasure and another style carefully crafted to show his glorious goodness, isn’t that all right? Either or both happens to Jews, but it also happens to the other people. Hosea put it well:
I’ll call nobodies and make them somebodies;
I’ll call the unloved and make them beloved.
In the place where they yelled out, “You’re nobody!”
they’re calling you “God’s living children.”
Isaiah maintained this same emphasis:
If each grain of sand on the seashore were numbered
and the sum labeled “chosen of God,”
They’d be numbers still, not names;
salvation comes by personal selection.
God doesn’t count us; he calls us by name.
Arithmetic is not his focus.
Isaiah had looked ahead and spoken the truth:
If our powerful God
had not provided us a legacy of living children,
We would have ended up like ghost towns,
like Sodom and Gomorrah.
How can we sum this up? All those people who didn’t seem interested in what God was doing actually embraced what God was doing as he straightened out their lives. And Israel, who seemed so interested in reading and talking about what God was doing, missed it. How could they miss it? Because instead of trusting God, they took over. They were absorbed in what they themselves were doing. They were so absorbed in their “God projects” that they didn’t notice God right in front of them, like a huge rock in the middle of the road. And so they stumbled into him and went sprawling. Isaiah (again!) gives us the metaphor for pulling this together:
Careful! I’ve put a huge stone on the road to Mount Zion,
a stone you can’t get around.
But the stone is me! If you’re looking for me,
you’ll find me on the way, not in the way.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International
Copyright © 2002, 2003, 2008, 2010, 2011 by Artists for Israel International
Copyright © 1951 by Geneva Bible Society
Copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson