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 9,22 Röm 9,22
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.
And Jehovah said unto Moses, How long will this people despise me? and how long will they not believe in me, for all the signs which I have wrought among them?
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?
And in the fourth generation they shall come hither again: for the iniquity of the Amorite is not yet full.
For the {Or, a wrath}wrath of God is revealed from heaven against all ungodliness and unrighteousness of men, who {Or, hold the truth Compare 1 Corinthians 7:30 (Greek)}hinder the truth in unrighteousness;
Jehovah is slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness, forgiving iniquity and transgression; and that will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generation.
For God appointed us not unto wrath, but unto the obtaining of salvation through our Lord Jesus Christ,
Wherefore ye witness to yourselves, that ye are sons of them that slew the prophets.
Fill ye up then the measure of your fathers.
Ye serpents, ye offspring of vipers, how shall ye escape the judgment of {Greek: Gehenna.}hell?
Or despisest thou the riches of his goodness and forbearance and longsuffering, not knowing that the goodness of God leadeth thee to repentance?
These things hast thou done, and I kept silence;Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as thyself:But I will reprove thee, and set them in order before thine eyes.
Now in a great house there are not only vessels of gold and of silver, but also of wood and of earth; and some unto honor, and some unto dishonor.
forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved; to fill up their sins always: but the wrath is come upon them to the uttermost.
but after thy hardness and impenitent heart treasurest up for thyself wrath in the day of wrath and revelation of the righteous judgment of God;
Now consider this, ye that forget God,Lest I tear you in pieces, and there be none to deliver:
and, {Isaiah 8:14.}A stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence; {Greek: who.}for they {Or, stumble, being disobedient to the word}stumble at the word, being disobedient: whereunto also they were appointed.
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.
Because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, therefore the heart of the sons of men is {Or, emboldened}fully set in them to do evil.
For there are certain men crept in privily, even they who were of old {Or, set forth}written of beforehand unto this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying {Or, the only Master, and our Lord Jesus Christ}our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
Who knoweth the power of thine anger,And thy wrath according to the fear that is due unto thee?
Though a sinner do evil a hundred times, and prolong his days, yet surely I know that it shall be well with them that fear God, that fear before him:
Jehovah hath made everything for {Or, his own purpose}its own end;Yea, even the wicked for the day of evil.
It is of Jehovah's lovingkindnesses that we are not consumed, because his compassions fail not.
and they say to the mountains and to the rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:
that aforetime were disobedient, when the longsuffering of God waited in the days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, {Or, into which few, that is, eight souls were brought safely through water}wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water:
for the great day of their wrath is come; and who is able to stand?
And in covetousness shall they with feigned words make merchandise of you: whose sentence now from of old lingereth not, and their destruction slumbereth not.
the Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation, and to keep the unrighteous under punishment unto the day of judgment;
But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years, and a thousand years as one day.
The Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some count slackness; but is longsuffering to you-ward, not wishing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance.
And account that the longsuffering of our Lord is salvation; even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given to him, wrote unto you;
For there are certain men crept in privily, even they who were of old {Or, set forth}written of beforehand unto this condemnation, ungodly men, turning the grace of our God into lasciviousness, and denying {Or, the only Master, and our Lord Jesus Christ}our only Master and Lord, Jesus Christ.
And when he opened the fifth seal, I saw underneath the altar the souls of them that had been slain for the word of God, and for the testimony which they held:
and they cried with a great voice, saying, How long, O Master, the holy and true, dost thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell on the earth?
And there was given them to each one a white robe; and it was said unto them, that they should rest yet for a little time, until their fellow-servants also and their brethren, who should be killed even as they were, should {Some ancient authorities read be fulfilled in number. 2 Esdr. 4:36.}have fulfilled their course.