Old/New Testament
16 So then, mercy is not of [a] the one wanting, nor of the one running, but of the One having-mercy[b]— God. 17 For the Scripture says to Pharaoh [in Ex 9:16] that “I raised you up for this very purpose: so that I might demonstrate My power[c] in you, and so that My name might be proclaimed in all the earth”. 18 So then, He has-mercy-on whom He wants, and He hardens[d] whom He wants.
The Creator Is Making Known His Wrath And His Mercy In Humankind
19 Therefore you will say to me, “Why then does He still find-fault? For who has resisted[e] His will?” 20 O human, on the contrary, who are you, the one answering-back to God? The thing formed will not say to the one having formed it, “Why did you make me like-this?”, will it? 21 Or does not the potter have authority over the clay to make from the same lump one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? 22 But what if God, wanting[f] to demonstrate His wrath and to make-known His power, bore[g] with much patience vessels of wrath having been prepared[h] for destruction, 23 and did so in order that He might make-known the riches of His glory upon vessels of mercy which He prepared-beforehand[i] for glory— 24 even us whom He called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles?
He Is Making Those Not His People His Own Children
25 As[j] He says also in Hosea: “I will call ‘Not My people’, ‘My people’; and ‘Not having been loved’, ‘Having been loved’” [Hos 2:23]. 26 “And it shall be in the place where it was said to them ‘you are not My people’, there they will be called sons of the living God” [Hos 1:10].
But Only a Remnant of Israel Will Be Saved
27 But[k] Isaiah cries-out concerning Israel: “If the number of the sons of Israel should be like the sand of the sea, the remnant will be saved. 28 For the Lord will accomplish[l] His word upon the earth, completing[m] and cutting-short[n]” [in Isa 10:22-23]. 29 And just as Isaiah said-before [in Isa 1:9]: “Unless the Lord of Sabaoth had left-behind a seed for us, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been likened[o] as Gomorrah”.
Israel Pursued a Righteousness Through The Law, And Did Not Attain It
30 Therefore, what shall we say? That Gentiles, the ones not pursuing righteousness, took-hold-of [p] righteousness— but a righteousness by faith. 31 But Israel, pursuing the Law of righteousness, did not attain to that Law. 32 For what reason? Because they pursued it not by faith, but as-if it was by works. They stumbled on the Stone of stumbling, 33 just as it has been written [in Isa 28:16]: “Behold— I am laying in Zion a Stone of stumbling and a Rock of falling. And the one putting-faith upon Him will not be put-to-shame”.
Disciples' Literal New Testament: Serving Modern Disciples by More Fully Reflecting the Writing Style of the Ancient Disciples, Copyright © 2011 Michael J. Magill. All Rights Reserved. Published by Reyma Publishing