I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit,
that I have great sorrow and unceasing pain in my heart.
For I could {Or, pray}wish that I myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren's sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;
whose are the fathers, and of whom is Christ as concerning the {Or, flesh; he who is over all, God, be blessed for ever.}flesh, who is over all, God blessed {Greek: unto the ages.}for ever. Amen.
But it is not as though the word of God hath come to nought. For they are not all Israel, that are of Israel:
neither, because they are Abraham's seed, are they all children: but, {Genesis 21:12}In Isaac shall thy seed be called.
That is, it is not the children of the flesh that are children of God; but the children of the promise are reckoned for a seed.
For this is a word of promise, {Genesis 18:10}According to this season will I come, and Sarah shall have a son.
And not only so; but Rebecca also having conceived by one, even by our father Isaac—
for the children being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth,
it was said unto her, {Genesis 25:23}The elder shall serve the younger.
Even as it is written, {Malachi 1:2 f}Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid.
For he saith to Moses, {Exodus 33:19}I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.
So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that hath mercy.
For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, {Exodus 9:16}For this very purpose did I raise thee up, that I might show in thee my power, and that my name might be published abroad in all the earth.
So then he hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he will be hardeneth.
Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he still find fault? For who withstandeth his will?
Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus?
Or hath not the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honor, and another unto dishonor?
What if God, {Or, although willing}willing to show his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction:
{Some ancient authorities omit and.}and that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he afore prepared unto glory,
even us, whom he also called, not from the Jews only, but also from the Gentiles?
As he saith also in Hosea,
{Hosea 2:23}I will call that my people, which was not my people;
And her beloved, that was not beloved.
{Hosea 1:10}And it shall be, 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.
And Isaiah crieth concerning Israel, {Isaiah 10:22 f.}If the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that shall be saved:
for the Lord will execute his word upon the earth, finishing it and cutting it short.
And, as Isaiah hath said before,
{Isaiah 1:9}Except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed,
We had become as Sodom, and had been made like unto Gomorrah.
What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, who followed not after righteousness, attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith:
but Israel, following after a law of righteousness, did not arrive at that law.
Wherefore? {Or, Because, doing it not by faith, but as it were by works, they stumbled}Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by works. They stumbled at the stone of stumbling;
even as it is written,
{Isaiah 28:16}Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offence:
And he that believeth on {Or, it}him shall not be put to shame.
Querverweise zu Römer 9,17 Röm 9,17
But what {1 Kings 19:18}saith the answer of God unto him? I have left for myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal.
but in very deed for this cause have I made thee to stand, to show thee my power, and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.
Jehovah maketh poor, and maketh rich:He bringeth low, he also lifteth up.
And Jehovah said unto Moses, Go in unto Pharaoh: for I have {Hebrew: made heavy.}hardened his heart, and the heart of his servants, that I may show these my signs in the midst of them,
and I made known unto them thy name, and will make it known; that the love wherewith thou lovedst me may be in them, and I in them.
And the scripture, foreseeing that God {Greek: justifieth.}would justify the {Greek: nations.}Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand unto Abraham, saying, {Genesis 12:3.}In thee shall all the nations be blessed.
He raiseth up the poor out of the dust,He lifteth up the needy from the dunghill,To make them sit with princes,And inherit the throne of glory:For the pillars of the earth are Jehovah's,And he hath set the world upon them.
and that thou mayest tell in the ears of thy son, and of thy son's son, {Or, how I have mocked the Egyptians}what things I have wrought upon Egypt, and my signs which I have done among them; that ye may know that I am Jehovah.
But the scripture shut up all things under sin, that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to them that believe.
For if thou altogether holdest thy peace at this time, then will relief and deliverance arise to the Jews from another place, but thou and thy father's house will perish: and who knoweth whether thou art not come to the kingdom for such a time as this?
And I, behold, I will {Hebrew: make strong.}harden the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall go in after them: and I will get me honor upon Pharaoh, and upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
Howbeit what saith the scripture? {Genesis 21:10, 12}Cast out the handmaid and her son: for the son of the handmaid shall not inherit with the son of the freewoman.
{Or, Woe to Asshur}Ho Assyrian, the rod of mine anger, the staff in whose hand is mine indignation!
And the Egyptians shall know that I am Jehovah, when I have gotten me honor upon Pharaoh, upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen.
I will send him against a profane nation, and against the people of my wrath will I give him a charge, to take the spoil, and to take the prey, and {Hebrew: to make them a treading down.}to tread them down like the mire of the streets.
The peoples have heard, they tremble:Pangs have taken hold on the inhabitants of Philistia.
Thus saith Jehovah to his anointed, to Cyrus, whose right hand I have holden, to subdue nations before him, and I will loose the loins of kings; to open the doors before him, and the gates shall not be shut:
I will go before thee, and make the rough places smooth; I will break in pieces the doors of brass, and cut in sunder the bars of iron;
and I will give thee the treasures of darkness, and hidden riches of secret places, that thou mayest know that it is I, Jehovah, who call thee by thy name, even the God of Israel.
Then were the chiefs of Edom dismayed;The {Hebrew: rams.}mighty men of Moab, trembling taketh hold upon them:All the inhabitants of Canaan are melted away.
And now have I given all these lands into the hand of Nebuchadnezzar the king of Babylon, my servant; and the beasts of the field also have I given him to serve him.
And Jethro said, Blessed be Jehovah, who hath delivered you out of the hand of the Egyptians, and out of the hand of Pharaoh; who hath delivered the people from under the hand of the Egyptians.
And all the nations shall serve him, and his son, and his son's son, until the time of his own land come: and then many nations and great kings shall make him their bondman.
Now I know that Jehovah is greater than all gods; yea, in the thing wherein they dealt proudly against them.
it is thou, O king, that art grown and become strong; for thy greatness is grown, and reacheth unto heaven, and thy dominion to the end of the earth.
and she said unto the men, I know that Jehovah hath given you the land, and that the fear of you is fallen upon us, and that all the inhabitants of the land melt away before you.
O thou king, the Most High God gave Nebuchadnezzar thy father the kingdom, and greatness, and glory, and majesty:
and because of the greatness that he gave him, all the peoples, nations, and languages trembled and feared before him: whom he would he slew, and whom he would he kept alive; and whom he would he raised up, and whom he would he put down.
But when his heart was lifted up, and his spirit was hardened so that he dealt proudly, he was deposed from his kingly throne, and they took his glory from him:
and he was driven from the sons of men, and his heart was made like the beasts', and his dwelling was with the wild asses; he was fed with grass like oxen, and his body was wet with the dew of heaven; until he knew that the Most High God ruleth in the kingdom of men, and that he setteth up over it whomsoever he will.
For we have heard how Jehovah dried up the water of the Red Sea before you, when ye came out of Egypt; and what ye did unto the two kings of the Amorites, that were beyond the Jordan, unto Sihon and to Og, whom ye {Hebrew: devoted.}utterly destroyed.
And they said unto him, From a very far country thy servants are come because of the name of Jehovah thy God: for we have heard the fame of him, and all that he did in Egypt,
Woe unto us! who shall deliver us out of the hand of these mighty gods? these are the gods that smote the Egyptians with all manner of {Hebrew: smitting.}plagues in the wilderness.
Let them be put to shame and dismayed for ever;Yea, let them be confounded and perish;
That they may know that {Or, thou whose name alone is Jehovah, art &c.}thou alone, whose name is Jehovah,Art the Most High over all the earth.
Jehovah hath made everything for {Or, his own purpose}its own end;Yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
Now therefore, O Jehovah our God, save us from his hand, that all the kingdoms of the earth may know that thou art Jehovah, even thou only.