Romans 9-10

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,

²⁶ And,

²⁷ And Isaiah cries out about Israel:

²⁹ It is just as Isaiah said:

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:

10 Brothers and sisters, what I want most is for all the people of Israel to be saved. That is my prayer to God. ² I can say this about them: They really try hard to follow God, but they don’t know the right way. ³ They did not know the way that God makes people right with him. And they tried to make themselves right in their own way. So they did not accept God’s way of making people right. ⁴ Christ ended the law so that everyone who believes in him is made right with God.

⁵ Moses writes about being made right by following the law. He says, “The person who obeys these laws is the one who will have life through them.”^{[i] 6} But this is what the Scriptures say about being made right through faith: “Don’t say to yourself, ‘Who will go up into heaven?’” (This means “Who will go up to heaven to get Christ and bring him down to earth?”) ⁷ “And don’t say, ‘Who will go down into the world below?’” (This means “Who will go down to get Christ and bring him up from death?”)

⁸ This is what the Scripture says: “God’s teaching is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart.”^[j] It is the teaching of faith that we tell people. ⁹ If you openly say, “Jesus is Lord” and believe in your heart that God raised him from death, you will be saved. ¹⁰ Yes, we believe in Jesus deep in our hearts, and so we are made right with God. And we openly say that we believe in him, and so we are saved.

¹¹ Yes, the Scriptures say, “Anyone who trusts in him will never be disappointed.”^{[k] 12} It says this because there is no difference between those who are Jews and those who are not. The same Lord is the Lord of all people. And he richly blesses everyone who looks to him for help. ¹³ Yes, “everyone who trusts in the Lord^[l] will be saved.”^[m]

¹⁴ But before people can pray to the Lord for help, they must believe in him. And before they can believe in the Lord, they must hear about him. And for anyone to hear about the Lord, someone must tell them. ¹⁵ And before anyone can go and tell them, they must be sent. As the Scriptures say, “How wonderful it is to see someone coming to tell good news!”^[n]

¹⁶ But not all the people accepted that good news. Isaiah said, “Lord, who believed what we told them?”^{[o] 17} So faith comes from hearing the Good News. And people hear the Good News when someone tells them about Christ.

¹⁸ But I ask, “Did those people not hear the Good News?” Yes, they heard—as the Scriptures say,

¹⁹ Again I ask, “Did the people of Israel not understand?” Yes, they did understand. First, Moses says this for God:

²⁰ Then Isaiah is bold enough to say this for God:

²¹ But about the people of Israel God says,