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Romans 9
Names of God Bible
Romans 9
Names of God Bible
Paul’s Concern for the Jewish People
9 As a Christian, I’m telling you the truth. I’m not lying. The Holy Spirit, along with my own thoughts, supports me in this. 2 I have deep sorrow and endless heartache. 3 I wish I could be condemned and cut off from Christ for the sake of others who, like me, are Jewish by birth. 4 They are Israelites, God’s adopted children. They have the Lord’s glory, the pledges,[a] Moses’ Teachings, the true worship, and the promises. 5 The Messiah is descended from their ancestors according to his human nature. The Messiah is God over everything, forever blessed. Amen.
6 Now it is not as though God’s word has failed. Clearly, not everyone descended from Israel is part of Israel 7 or a descendant of Abraham. However, as Scripture says, “Through Isaac your descendants will carry on your name.” 8 This means that children born by natural descent from Abraham are not necessarily God’s children. Instead, children born by the promise are considered Abraham’s descendants.
9 For example, this is what the promise said, “I will come back at the right time, and Sarah will have a son.” 10 The same thing happened to Rebekah. Rebekah became pregnant by our ancestor Isaac. 11 Before the children had been born or had done anything good or bad, Rebekah was told that the older child would serve the younger one. This was said to Rebekah so that God’s plan would remain a matter of his choice, 12 a choice based on God’s call and not on anything people do.[b] 13 The Scriptures say, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.”
14 What can we say—that God is unfair? That’s unthinkable! 15 For example, God said to Moses, “I will be kind to anyone I want to. I will be merciful to anyone I want to.” 16 Therefore, God’s choice does not depend on a person’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.
17 For example, Scripture says to Pharaoh, “I put you here for this reason: to demonstrate my power through you and to spread my name throughout the earth.” 18 Therefore, if God wants to be kind to anyone, he will be. If he wants to make someone stubborn, he will.
19 You may ask me, “Why does God still find fault with anyone? Who can resist whatever God wants to do?”
20 Who do you think you are to talk back to God like that? Can an object that was made say to its maker, “Why did you make me like this?” 21 A potter has the right to do whatever he wants with his clay. He can make something for a special occasion or something for everyday use from the same lump of clay.
22 If God wants to demonstrate his anger and reveal his power, he can do it. But can’t he be extremely patient with people who are objects of his anger because they are headed for destruction? 23 Can’t God also reveal the riches of his glory to people who are objects of his mercy and who he had already prepared for glory? 24 This is what God did for us whom he called—whether we are Jews or not.
God Chose People Who Are Not Jewish
25 As God says in Hosea:
“Those who are not my people
I will call my people.
Those who are not loved
I will call my loved ones.
26 Wherever they were told,
‘You are not my people,’
they will be called children of the living God.”
27 Isaiah also says about Israel:
“Although the descendants of Israel are
as numerous as the grains of sand on the seashore,
only a few will be saved.
28 The Lord will carry out his sentence on the land,
completely and decisively.”
29 This is what Isaiah predicted:
“If the Lord of Armies hadn’t left us some descendants,
we would have been like Sodom and Gomorrah.”
30 So what can we say? We can say that non-Jewish people who were not trying to gain God’s approval won his approval, an approval based on faith. 31 The people of Israel tried to gain God’s approval by obeying the laws in Moses’ Teachings, but they did not reach their goal. 32 Why? They didn’t rely on faith to gain God’s approval, but they relied on their own efforts. They stumbled over the rock that trips people. 33 As Scripture says,
“I am placing a rock in Zion that people trip over,
a large rock that people find offensive.
Whoever believes in him will not be ashamed.”
Footnotes
- Romans 9:4 Or “covenants.”
- Romans 9:12 The last part of verse 12 (in Greek) has been placed in verse 11 to express the complex Greek sentence structure more clearly in English.
Romans 9
Revised Geneva Translation
Romans 9
Revised Geneva Translation
9 I say the truth in Christ. I do not lie; my conscience bearing me witness in the holy Ghost,
2 so that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.
3 For I could wish myself to be accursed, to be separated from Christ, for my brothers who are my kinsmen according to the flesh,
4 (who are the Israelites), to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the Covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises;
5 from whom are the Fathers, and from whom, concerning the flesh, Christ - Who is God over all, blessed forever – came. Amen.
6 Notwithstanding, it cannot be that the Word of God should take no effect. For not all are Israel who are of Israel.
7 Nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham. But: “In Isaac shall your seed be called.”
8 That is, those who are the children of the flesh are not the children of God. But the children of the promise are counted as the seed.
9 For this is a Word of Promise: “At this time I will come, and Sarah shall have a son”;
10 and not only her, but Rebecca also, when she had conceived by one, even by our Father, Isaac.
11 For before the children were born - and when they had done neither good nor evil (so that the purpose of God might remain according to election; not by works, but by Him Who calls) -
12 it was said to her: “The Elder shall serve the younger.”
13 As it is written: “I have loved Jacob and have hated Esau.”
14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Absolutely not!
15 For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy and will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.”
16 So then it is not in him who wills, nor in him who runs, but in God, Who shows mercy.
17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh: “For this same purpose I have raised you up, so that I might show My power in you; and that My Name might be declared throughout all the Earth.”
18 Therefore, He has mercy on whom He will. And whom He will, He hardens.
19 You will then say to me: “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?”
20 But who are you, O man, to contradict God? Shall the thing formed say to Him Who formed it, “Why have you made me this way”?
21 Does not indeed the potter have authority over the clay to make, from the same lump, one vessel unto honor and another unto dishonor?
22 What if God – though willing to show His wrath, and to make His power known - endured with much patience the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction?
23 That in so doing, He might declare the riches of His Glory upon the vessels of mercy, which He has prepared unto Glory -
24 even we whom He has called - not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles.
25 As He also says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘My people’ who were not my people; and her ‘Beloved’ who was not beloved.
26 “And it shall be in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people’. There they shall be called ‘The sons of the living God’.”
27 Also, Isaiah cries concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel were as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be saved.
28 “For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, because the Lord will make a short work upon the Earth.”
29 And as Isaiah said before: “Except that the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we had been made as Sodom, and had been like Gomorrah.”
30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who did not follow righteousness, have attained righteousness, even the righteousness that is by faith;
31 but Israel, which followed the Law of righteousness, could not attain the Law of righteousness.
32 Why? Because they did not not seek it by faith, but by the works of the Law. For they have stumbled at the stumbling stone.
33 As it is written: “Behold, I lay a stumbling stone in Zion; an ensnaring rock. And everyone who believes in Him, shall not be ashamed.”
Romans 9
New International Version
Romans 9
New International Version
Paul’s Anguish Over Israel
9 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying,(A) my conscience confirms(B) it through the Holy Spirit— 2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3 For I could wish that I myself(C) were cursed(D) and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people,(E) those of my own race,(F) 4 the people of Israel.(G) Theirs is the adoption to sonship;(H) theirs the divine glory,(I) the covenants,(J) the receiving of the law,(K) the temple worship(L) and the promises.(M) 5 Theirs are the patriarchs,(N) and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah,(O) who is God over all,(P) forever praised Amen.
God’s Sovereign Choice
6 It is not as though God’s word(R) had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.(S) 7 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[b](T) 8 In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children,(U) but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.(V) 9 For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”[c](W)
10 Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac.(X) 11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad(Y)—in order that God’s purpose(Z) in election might stand: 12 not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”[d](AA) 13 Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”[e](AB)
14 What then shall we say?(AC) Is God unjust? Not at all!(AD) 15 For he says to Moses,
“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy,
and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”[f](AE)
16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.(AF) 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”[g](AG) 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.(AH)
19 One of you will say to me:(AI) “Then why does God still blame us?(AJ) For who is able to resist his will?”(AK) 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?(AL) “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,(AM) ‘Why did you make me like this?’”[h](AN) 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?(AO)
22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience(AP) the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?(AQ) 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory(AR) known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory(AS)— 24 even us, whom he also called,(AT) not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?(AU) 25 As he says in Hosea:
“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”[i](AV)
26 and,
“In the very place where it was said to them,
‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”[j](AW)
27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:
“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,(AX)
only the remnant will be saved.(AY)
28 For the Lord will carry out
his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”[k](AZ)
29 It is just as Isaiah said previously:
“Unless the Lord Almighty(BA)
had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah.”[l](BB)
Israel’s Unbelief
30 What then shall we say?(BC) That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;(BD) 31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness,(BE) have not attained their goal.(BF) 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.(BG) 33 As it is written:
Footnotes
- Romans 9:5 Or Messiah, who is over all. God be forever praised! Or Messiah. God who is over all be forever praised!
- Romans 9:7 Gen. 21:12
- Romans 9:9 Gen. 18:10,14
- Romans 9:12 Gen. 25:23
- Romans 9:13 Mal. 1:2,3
- Romans 9:15 Exodus 33:19
- Romans 9:17 Exodus 9:16
- Romans 9:20 Isaiah 29:16; 45:9
- Romans 9:25 Hosea 2:23
- Romans 9:26 Hosea 1:10
- Romans 9:28 Isaiah 10:22,23 (see Septuagint)
- Romans 9:29 Isaiah 1:9
- Romans 9:33 Isaiah 8:14; 28:16
Names of God Bible (NOG)
The Names of God Bible (without notes) © 2011 by Baker Publishing Group.
Revised Geneva Translation (RGT)
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New International Version (NIV) 
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