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I speak what is true {because I am authorized to represent the Messiah {Jesus}. I do not speak what is false. The Holy Spirit confirms what my conscience testifies within myself: 2 I am overwhelmed with sorrow! I constantly and deeply grieve! 3 In fact, I could vow to God that he would personally curse me! I could vow that God would {even} separate me from {Jesus} the Messiah for the sake of {the salvation of} my {Israelite} kinsmen, who are my close relatives by natural lineage! 4 These {kinsmen of mine} are the Israelites, who God {spiritually} adopted. God allowed them to experience how glorious he is. God made covenants with them. God gave them a code of law. God gave them the services that showed them how he wanted them to worship him. God made promises to them. 5 The Patriarchs {Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob} come from the Israelites. Even the Messiah is a physical descendant of the Israelites. {Yet}, the Messiah is God over all things. He is to be praised forever. May it be so! 6 Certainly, it is not as if what God promised {to the Israelites} has become powerless {because as a nation they rejected the Messiah Jesus}. This is because not all people who are {physical descendants} of Israel are {true} Israelites. 7 It is not true either, that all the offspring who physically descended from Abraham are considered {Abraham’s spiritual} children. Instead, {as God says to Abraham in the holy scriptures,} “Your {true} offspring will be named in {relation to} Isaac.” 8 In other words, God’s {spiritual} children are not those children who are physically {descended from Abraham, like Ishmael}. Instead, {Abraham’s true spiritual} offspring are those who God considers to be his {spiritual} children. This is based on what God promised {to Abraham}. 9 Indeed, this is what God promised {would happen}, “At this set time {next year}, I will come and enable Sarah to give birth to a son.” 10 Indeed, this is not the only way {that God showed who his true spiritual children are}. But even Rebekah became pregnant by this same man Isaac. {So, it is actually Isaac not Ishmael} who is the {spiritual} father of {all of} us {who are part of God’s promise to Abraham}. 11 In fact, Rebekah gave birth to {Jacob and Esau}. Even before they were born or had done anything right or wrong, God chose {Jacob to accomplish what he promised to Abraham}. This was so that what God previously planned would continue to happen. 12 God did not choose {Jacob} because he did {what God’s law requires}. Instead, it was because God summons {those he chooses. This is why} God told Rebekah, “Your older son will become a slave to the younger son.” 13 This is exactly what God says in the holy scriptures, “I love Jacob {the younger son}, but I do not love Esau {the older son}.”
14 So then, of course we should not think that God is unjust {because he chose Jacob and not Esau}! 15 In fact, God told Moses, “I will pity whoever I want to pity. I will be favorable to whoever I want to favor.” 16 So then, {who God choses to become part of his people does} not {depend} on {how strongly} someone desires, or {how much} effort a person exerts. Instead, {who God choses to become part of his people is based on} God who pities. 17 Indeed, this is what God says to Pharaoh in the holy scripture, “I allowed you {to become king in Egypt} for this very reason: so that I could exhibit how powerful I am in comparison to you. I also exhibited how powerful I am so that my fame would spread throughout the entire earth.” 18 So then, God pities who{ever} he wants to pity. However, he makes obstinate who{ever} he wants to become obstinate.
19 So then, you must not object to me by saying, “Then God should not be able to keep blaming {people for what they do}! Because no one is able to oppose what{ever} he plans will occur!” 20 {This is how} a mere human being {would talk!} In fact, no {mere human being} should try to act like a judge against God. It would be quite silly for the shaped {pot} to complain to the {potter} who shaped it, “Why did you make me into a pot?” 21 Certainly, the potter can shape the clay however he wants! The potter can make {whatever he decides} from the same lump {of clay}. The potter can either make an object for special use, or an object for ordinary use. 22 It is true that God desires to exhibit how he punishes {his enemies}. God also desires to demonstrate how powerful he is. {Yet,} God very patiently endures those {people who are like those potter’s} objects {made for ordinary use}. {He endures them until he finally decides they} are ready for him to punish them. Then God will ultimately destroy them. 23 {God} also {desires} to demonstrate how richly he will glorify those {people who are like a potter’s} special objects. He will pity them. God has already prepared these people to become glorified. 24 We are also {among} those people that God summons. God summons people from both the Jews and indeed {all} the nations. 25 God also says a similar thing to {the Prophet} Hosea, “I will give the name, ’My people,’ to people who do not belong to me. I will also give the name, ‘Loved one,’ to people who I do not love.
26 Then it will happen, in the same location where it was previously said about them, ‘You are not my people,’ at that exact spot God will give them the name, ‘Children of the living God.’
27 Indeed, the Prophet Isaiah shouts out about {the people} of Israel, “Even if there were as many people in Israel as grains of sand along the seashore–God will save {only} those who survive.” 28 “This is because the Lord will fully and decisively accomplish what he promised on the earth.”
29 The Prophet Isaiah previously said this too in the holy scriptures, “The Lord, who commands the angelic armies, preserved a few descendants for us. If the Lord had not done this, the people of Israel would become a ruin like the city of Sodom or even like the city of Gomorrah.”
30 So, we are saying that the nations are not seeking to be made right with God. {Yet,} God seeks out the nations in order to make them right with himself. Indeed, God makes people right with himself, because of how faithful he is. 31 However, the people of Israel keep seeking to become right with God by {obeying his} law. {But,} the people of Israel do not obtain a right relationship with God by {obeying his} law. 32 The reason for this is because they do not faithfully trust {in God}. Instead, the people of Israel think they can become right with God by relying on what they do. This {lack of trusting in God} makes them offended {at who God chose to be Messiah. It is as if the Messiah is} a stone that causes them to stumble {and fall}. 33 This is exactly what the holy scriptures say, ”Look! I am putting {a person} on Mount Zion. {He will be like} a stone that causes people to stumble {and fall}. {He will be like} a rock that trips {people}. But, God will not humiliate {anyone} who continues to trust in him.”