Paul's Letter to the Romans, Chapter 11
{11:1} I ask then, did God reject his people? May it never be! For I
also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of
Benjamin. {11:2} God didn't reject his people, which he foreknew. Or
don't you know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads
with God against Israel: {11:3} "Lord, they have killed your prophets,
they have broken down your altars; and I am left alone, and they seek
my life."[1] {11:4} But how does God answer him? "I have reserved for
myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal."[2]
{11:5} Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant
according to the election of grace. {11:6} And if by grace, then it is
no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is
of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.
{11:7} What then? That which Israel seeks for, that he didn't
obtain, but the chosen ones obtained it, and the rest were hardened.
{11:8} According as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to
this very day."[3] {11:9} David says,
"Let their table be made a snare, and a trap,
a stumbling block, and a retribution to them.
{11:10} Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see.
Bow down their back always."[4]
{11:11} I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? May it
never be! But by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, to
provoke them to jealousy. {11:12} Now if their fall is the riches of
the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more
their fullness? {11:13} For I speak to you who are Gentiles. Since
then as I am an emissary to Gentiles, I glorify my ministry; {11:14}
if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and
may save some of them. {11:15} For if the rejection of them is the
reconciling of the world, what would their acceptance be, but life
from the dead? {11:16} If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If
the root is holy, so are the branches. {11:17} But if some of the
branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in
among them, and became partaker with them of the root and of the
richness of the olive tree; {11:18} don't boast over the branches. But
if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root
supports you. {11:19} You will say then, "Branches were broken off,
that I might be grafted in." {11:20} True; by their unbelief they were
broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don't be conceited, but fear;
{11:21} for if God didn't spare the natural branches, neither will he
spare you. {11:22} See then the goodness and severity of God. Toward
those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in
his goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off. {11:23} They also,
if they don't continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God
is able to graft them in again. {11:24} For if you were cut out of
that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary
to nature into a good olive tree, how much more will these, which are
the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? {11:25}
For I don't desire you to be ignorant, [5>]brothers,[<5] of this
mystery, so that you won't be wise in your own conceits, that a
partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the
Gentiles has come in, {11:26} and so all Israel will be saved. Even as
it is written,
"There will come out of Zion the Deliverer,
and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.
{11:27} This is my covenant to them,
when I will take away their sins."[6]
{11:28} Concerning the Good News, they are enemies for your sake.
But concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sake.
{11:29} For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. {11:30}
For as you in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained
mercy by their disobedience, {11:31} even so these also have now been
disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they may also obtain
mercy. {11:32} For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might
have mercy on all.
{11:33} Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the
knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways
past tracing out!
{11:34} "For who has known the mind of the Lord?
Or who has been his counselor?"[7]
{11:35} "Or who has first given to him,
and it will be repaid to him again?"[8]
{11:36} For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To
him be the glory for ever! Amen.
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Footnotes:
[1] {11:3} 1 Kings 19:10,14
[2] {11:4} 1 Kings 19:18
[3] {11:8} Deuteronomy 29:4; Isaiah 29:10
[4] {11:10} Psalm 69:22,23
[5] {11:25} The word for "brothers" here and where context allows may
also be correctly translated "brothers and sisters" or "siblings."
[6] {11:27} Isaiah 59:20-21; 27:9; Jeremiah 31:33-34
[7] {11:34} Isaiah 40:13
[8] {11:35} Job 41:11
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