I say then, Did God cast off his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.
God did not cast off his people which he foreknew. Or know ye not what the scripture {1 Kings 19:10}saith of {Or, in…Compare Mark 12:26}Elijah? how he pleadeth with God against Israel:
Lord, they have killed thy prophets, they have digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.
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.
Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.
But if it is by grace, it is no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace.
What then? That which Israel seeketh for, that he obtained not; but the election obtained it, and the rest were hardened:
according as it is written, {Isaiah 29:10; Deuteronomy 29:4.}God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, unto this very day.
And David saith,
{Psalm 69:22 f.}Let their table be made a snare, and a trap,
And a stumblingblock, and a recompense unto them:
Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see,
And bow thou down their back always.
I say then, Did they stumble that they might fall? God forbid: but by their {Or, trespass Compare chapter 5:15 ff.}fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy.
Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?
But I speak to you that are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I glorify my ministry;
if by any means I may provoke to jealousy them that are my flesh, and may save some of them.
For if the casting away of them is the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?
And if the firstfruit is holy, so is the lump: and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
But if some of the branches were broken off, and thou, being a wild olive, wast grafted in among them, and didst become partaker with them {Many ancient authorities read of the root and of the fatness.}of the root of the fatness of the olive tree;
glory not over the branches: but if thou gloriest, it is not thou that bearest the root, but the root thee.
Thou wilt say then, Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.
Well; by their unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by thy faith. Be not highminded, but fear:
for if God spared not the natural branches, neither will he spare thee.
Behold then the goodness and severity of God: toward them that fell, severity; but toward thee, God's goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
And they also, if they continue not in their unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.
For if thou wast cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and wast grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree; how much more shall these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?
For I would not, brethren, have you ignorant of this mystery, lest ye be wise in your own conceits, that a hardening in part hath befallen Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in;
and so all Israel shall be saved: even as it is written,
{Isaiah 59:20 f.}There shall come out of Zion the Deliverer;
He shall turn away {Greek: ungodlinesses.}ungodliness from Jacob:
{Isaiah 27:9}And this is {Greek: the covenant from me.}my covenant unto them,
When I shall take away their sins.
As touching the {See chapter 10:15, 16 and marginal note on chapter 1:1}gospel, they are enemies for your sake: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sake.
For the gifts and the calling of God are not repented of.
For as ye in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience,
even so have these also now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they also may now obtain mercy.
For God hath shut up all unto disobedience, that he might have mercy upon all.
O the depth {Or, of the riches and the wisdom & c.}of the riches {Or, both of wisdom & c.}both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!
For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?
or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?
For of him, and through him, and unto him, are all things. To him be the glory {Greek: unto the ages.}for ever. Amen.
Querverweise zu Römer 11,1 Röm 11,1
For Jehovah will not forsake his people for his great name's sake, because it hath pleased Jehovah to make you a people unto himself.
{Greek: Be it not so: and so elsewhere.}God forbid: yea, let God be found true, but every man a liar; as it is written, {Psalm 51:4}That thou mightest be justified in thy words,And mightest prevail when thou comest into judgment.
For I could {Or, pray}wish that I myself were anathema from Christ for my brethren's sake, my kinsmen according to the flesh:
And Jehovah said, I will remove Judah also out of my sight, as I have removed Israel, and I will cast off this city which I have chosen, even Jerusalem, and the house of which I said, My name shall be there.
I am a Jew, born in Tarsus of Cilicia, but brought up in this city, at the feet of Gamaliel, instructed according to the strict manner of the law of our fathers, being zealous for God, even as ye all are this day:
Will the Lord cast off for ever?And will he be favorable no more?
My manner of life then from my youth up, which was from the beginning among mine own nation and at Jerusalem, know all the Jews;
If they {Hebrew: profane.}break my statutes,And keep not my commandments;
Then will I visit their transgression with the rod,And their iniquity with stripes.
But my lovingkindness will I not utterly take from him,Nor suffer my faithfulness to fail.
My covenant will I not {Hebrew: profane.}break,Nor alter the thing that is gone out of my lips.
{Or, One thing}Once have I sworn by my holiness:I will not lie unto David:
His seed shall endure for ever,And his throne as the sun before me.
{Or, As the moon which is established for ever}It shall be established for ever as the moon, {Or, And the witness in the sky is faithful}And as the faithful witness in the sky. [Selah
Are they Hebrews? so am I. Are they Israelites? so am I. Are they the seed of Abraham? so am I.
For Jehovah will not cast off his people,Neither will he forsake his inheritance.
circumcised the eighth day, of the stock of Israel, of the tribe of Benjamin, a Hebrew of Hebrews; as touching the law, a Pharisee;
If these ordinances depart from before me, saith Jehovah, then the seed of Israel also shall cease from being a nation before me for ever.
Thus saith Jehovah: If heaven above can be measured, and the foundations of the earth searched out beneath, then will I also cast off all the seed of Israel for all that they have done, saith Jehovah.
Considerest thou not what this people have spoken, saying, The two families which Jehovah did choose, he hath cast them off? thus do they despise my people, that they should be no more a nation before them.
Thus saith Jehovah: If my covenant of day and night stand not, if I have not appointed the ordinances of heaven and earth;
then will I also cast away the seed of Jacob, and of David my servant, so that I will not take of his seed to be rulers over the seed of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: for I will {Or, return to their captivity}cause their captivity to return, and will have mercy on them.
My God will cast them away, because they did not hearken unto him; and they shall be wanderers among the nations.
Behold, the eyes of the Lord Jehovah are upon the sinful kingdom, and I will destroy it from off the face of the earth; save that I will not utterly destroy the house of Jacob, saith Jehovah.
For, lo, I will command, and I will {Hebrew: cause to move to and fro.}sift the house of Israel among all the nations, like as grain is sifted in a sieve, yet shall not the least kernel fall upon the earth.