God’s Sovereign Choice

⁶ It is not as though God’s word^(A) had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.^{(B) 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.”^{[a](C) 8} In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children,^(D) but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.^{(E) 9} For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”^[b](F)