King James Bible

New Living Translation

1I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,

1With Christ as my witness, I speak with utter truthfulness. My conscience and the Holy Spirit confirm it.

2That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.

2My heart is filled with bitter sorrow and unending grief

3For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:

3for my people, my Jewish brothers and sisters. I would be willing to be forever cursed—cut off from Christ!—if that would save them.

4Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;

4They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises.

5Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

5Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob are their ancestors, and Christ himself was an Israelite as far as his human nature is concerned. And he is God, the one who rules over everything and is worthy of eternal praise! Amen.

6Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:

6Well then, has God failed to fulfill his promise to Israel? No, for not all who are born into the nation of Israel are truly members of God’s people!

7Neither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In Isaac shall thy seed be called.

7Being descendants of Abraham doesn’t make them truly Abraham’s children. For the Scriptures say, “Isaac is the son through whom your descendants will be counted,” though Abraham had other children, too.

8That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

8This means that Abraham’s physical descendants are not necessarily children of God. Only the children of the promise are considered to be Abraham’s children.

9For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a son.

9For God had promised, “I will return about this time next year, and Sarah will have a son.”

10And not only this; but when Rebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;

10This son was our ancestor Isaac. When he married Rebekah, she gave birth to twins.

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 calleth;)

11But before they were born, before they had done anything good or bad, she received a message from God. (This message shows that God chooses people according to his own purposes;

12It was said unto her, The elder shall serve the younger.

12he calls people, but not according to their good or bad works.) She was told, “Your older son will serve your younger son.”

13As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated.

13In the words of the Scriptures, “I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.”

14What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.

14Are we saying, then, that God was unfair? Of course not!

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.

15For God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I choose, and I will show compassion to anyone I choose.”

16So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy.

16So it is God who decides to show mercy. We can neither choose it nor work for it.

17For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

17For the Scriptures say that God told Pharaoh, “I have appointed you for the very purpose of displaying my power in you and to spread my fame throughout the earth.”

18Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.

18So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen.

19Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?

19Well then, you might say, “Why does God blame people for not responding? Haven’t they simply done what he makes them do?”

20Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus?

20No, don’t say that. Who are you, a mere human being, to argue with God? Should the thing that was created say to the one who created it, “Why have you made me like this?”

21Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

21When a potter makes jars out of clay, doesn’t he have a right to use the same lump of clay to make one jar for decoration and another to throw garbage into?

22What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction:

22In the same way, even though God has the right to show his anger and his power, he is very patient with those on whom his anger falls, who are destined for destruction.

23And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

23He does this to make the riches of his glory shine even brighter on those to whom he shows mercy, who were prepared in advance for glory.

24Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

24And we are among those whom he selected, both from the Jews and from the Gentiles.

25As he saith also in Osee, I will call them my people, which were not my people; and her beloved, which was not beloved.

25Concerning the Gentiles, God says in the prophecy of Hosea, “Those who were not my people, I will now call my people. And I will love those whom I did not love before.”

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 the children of the living God.

26And, “Then, at the place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’ there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”

27Esaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved:

27And concerning Israel, Isaiah the prophet cried out, “Though the people of Israel are as numerous as the sand of the seashore, only a remnant will be saved.

28For he will finish the work, and cut it short in righteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.

28For the LORD will carry out his sentence upon the earth quickly and with finality.”

29And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.

29And Isaiah said the same thing in another place: “If the LORD of Heaven’s Armies had not spared a few of our children, we would have been wiped out like Sodom, destroyed like Gomorrah.” Israel’s Unbelief

30What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith.

30What does all this mean? Even though the Gentiles were not trying to follow God’s standards, they were made right with God. And it was by faith that this took place.

31But Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.

31But the people of Israel, who tried so hard to get right with God by keeping the law, never succeeded.

32Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumblingstone;

32Why not? Because they were trying to get right with God by keeping the law instead of by trusting in him. They stumbled over the great rock in their path.

33As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a stumblingstone and rock of offence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.

33God warned them of this in the Scriptures when he said, “I am placing a stone in Jerusalem that makes people stumble, a rock that makes them fall. But anyone who trusts in him will never be disgraced.”

King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.