1I say the truth in Christ, I do not lie, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, 2that I have great sorrow and continual pain in my heart. 3For I could wish that myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren, those who are my kinsmen according to the flesh, 4who are Israelites, to whom [pertains] the adoption [as sons] and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the law and the service [of God] and the promises, 5whose [are] the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh is the Christ, who is God over all things, blessed for all the ages. Amen. 6Not as though the word of God has been deficient. For not all the descendants of Israel are Israelites; 7neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are all sons, but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called. 8That is, Those who [are] sons of the flesh, these [are] not the sons of God; but those who [are] sons of the promise [are] counted in the generation. 9For the word of the promise [is] this, At this time I will come, and Sara shall have a son. 10And not only [this], but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, [even] by our father Isaac 11(for [the children] being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand: not of works, but of him that calls), 12it was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger. 13As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated. 14What shall we say then? [Is there] injustice in God? No, in no wise. 15For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. 16So then [it is] not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that has mercy. 17For the scripture saith of Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might show my power in thee and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. 18Therefore he has mercy on whom he will [have mercy], and he hardens whom he will. 19Thou wilt say then unto me, Why does he become angry? For who shall resist his will? 20Rather, O man, who art thou to reply against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed [it], Why hast thou made me thus? 21Has not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour and another unto dishonour? 22[What] if God, desiring to show [his] wrath and to make his power known, endured with much meekness the vessels of wrath, prepared for death, 23and making known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he has prepared unto glory? 24Even us, whom he has called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles! 25As he saith also in Hosea, I will call them my people, who were not my people, and her beloved, who was not beloved. 26And it shall come to pass [that] in the place where it was said unto them, Ye [are] not my people, there shall they be called sons of the living God. 27Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel, Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, only a remnant shall be saved; 28when the consumption comes to an end, righteousness shall overflow, because a short sentence will the Lord execute upon the earth. 29And as Isaiah said before, Except the Lord of the hosts had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom and been made like unto Gomorrha. 30What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who did not follow after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, that is to say, the righteousness which is by faith, 31and Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. 32Why? Because [they followed it] not by faith but, as it were, by the works (of the law); therefore, they stumbled on the stumblingstone; 33as it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock [that will cause some] to fall, and whosoever believes in him shall not be ashamed.: