Israel’s Unbelief

30 What then shall we say?(A) That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;(B) 31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness,(C) have not attained their goal.(D) 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.(E) 33 As it is written:

“See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes people to stumble
    and a rock that makes them fall,
    and the one who believes in him will never be put to shame.”[a](F)

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Footnotes

  1. Romans 9:33 Isaiah 8:14; 28:16

Israel’s Rejection Culpable

30 What shall we say then?—that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness obtained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith, 31 but Israel even though pursuing[a] a law of righteousness[b] did not attain it.[c] 32 Why not? Because they pursued[d] it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works.[e] They stumbled over the stumbling stone,[f] 33 just as it is written,

Look, I am laying in Zion a stone that will cause people to stumble
and a rock that will make them fall,[g]
yet the one who believes in him will not be put to shame.[h]

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Footnotes

  1. Romans 9:31 tn Or “who pursued.” The participle could be taken adverbially or adjectivally.
  2. Romans 9:31 tn Or “a legal righteousness,” that is, a righteousness based on law. This translation would treat the genitive δικαιοσύνης (dikaiosunēs) as an attributed genitive (see ExSyn 89-91).
  3. Romans 9:31 tn Grk “has not attained unto the law.”
  4. Romans 9:32 tn Grk “Why? Because not by faith but as though by works.” The verb (“they pursued [it]”) is to be supplied from the preceding verse for the sake of English style; yet a certain literary power is seen in Paul’s laconic style.
  5. Romans 9:32 tc Most mss, especially the later ones (א2 D Ψ 33 1175 1241 1505 2464 M sy), read νόμου (nomou, “of the law”) here, echoing Paul’s usage in Rom 3:20, 28 and elsewhere. The qualifying phrase is lacking in א* A B F G 6 629 630 1739 1881 lat co. The longer reading thus is weaker externally and internally, apparently being motivated by a need to clarify.tn Grk “but as by works.”
  6. Romans 9:32 tn Grk “the stone of stumbling.”
  7. Romans 9:33 tn Grk “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”
  8. Romans 9:33 sn A quotation from Isa 28:16; 8:14.