1 I say [the] truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing witness with me in [the] Holy Spirit, 2 that I have great grief and uninterrupted pain in my heart, 3 for I have wished, I myself, to be a curse from the Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen, according to flesh; 4 who are Israelites; whose [is] the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the law-giving, and the service, and the promises; 5 whose [are] the fathers; and of whom, as according to flesh, [is] the Christ, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. 6 Not however as though the word of God had failed; for not all [are] Israel which [are] of Israel; 7 nor because they are seed of Abraham [are] all children: but, In Isaac shall a seed be called to thee. 8 That is, [they that are] the children of the flesh, these [are] not the children of God; but the children of the promise are reckoned as seed. 9 For this word [is] of promise, According to this time I will come, and there shall be a son to Sarah. 10 And not only [that], but Rebecca having conceived by one, Isaac our father, 11 [the children] indeed being not yet born, or having done anything good or worthless (that the purpose of God according to election might abide, not of works, but of him that calls), 12 it was said to her, The greater shall serve the less: 13 according as it is written, I have loved Jacob, and I have hated Esau. 14 What shall we say then? [Is there] unrighteousness with God? Far be the thought. 15 For he says to Moses, I will shew mercy to whom I will shew mercy, and I will feel compassion for whom I will feel compassion. 16 So then [it is] not of him that wills, nor of him that runs, but of God that shews mercy. 17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh, For this very thing I have raised thee up from amongst [men], that I might thus shew in thee my power, and so that my name should be declared in all the earth. 18 So then, to whom he will he shews mercy, and whom he will he hardens. 19 Thou wilt say to me then, Why does he yet find fault? for who resists his purpose? 20 Aye, but thou, O man, who art thou that answerest again to God? Shall the thing formed say to him that has formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? 21 Or has not the potter authority over the clay, out of the same lump to make one vessel to honour, and another to dishonour? 22 And if God, minded to shew his wrath and to make his power known, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted for destruction; 23 and that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he had before prepared for glory, 24 us, whom he has also called, not only from amongst [the] Jews, but also from amongst [the] nations? 25 As he says also in Hosea, I will call not-my-people My people; and the-not-beloved Beloved. 26 And it shall be, in the place where it was said to them, Ye [are] not my people, there shall they be called Sons of [the] living God. 27 But Esaias cries concerning Israel, Should the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant shall be saved: 28 for [he] is bringing the matter to an end, and [cutting [it] short in righteousness; because] a cutting short of the matter will [the] Lord accomplish upon the earth. 29 And according as Esaias said before, Unless [the] Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we had been as Sodom, and made like even as Gomorrha. 30 What then shall we say? That [they of the] nations, who did not follow after righteousness, have attained righteousness, but [the] righteousness that is on the principle of faith. 31 But Israel, pursuing after a law of righteousness, has not attained to [that] law. 32 Wherefore? Because [it was] not on the principle of faith, but as of works. They have stumbled at the stumblingstone, 33 according as it is written, Behold, I place in Zion a stone of stumbling and rock of offence: and he that believes on him shall not be ashamed.
Romans 9 Darby Translation
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
Cross references (33)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 1 Timothy 2:7; Romans 1:9; Galatians 1:20; 2 Corinthians 11:10; Philippians 1:8
- 2 Philippians 3:18; Romans 10:1; Jeremiah 13:17; Psalm 119:136; Lamentations 3:51
- 3 Exodus 32:32; Esther 8:6; Romans 11:14; Galatians 3:10; 1 Corinthians 16:22
- 4 Ephesians 2:12; Psalm 147:19; Genesis 17:2; Romans 9:6; Acts 2:39
- 5 John 10:30; Colossians 1:16–19; John 1:1–3; Romans 1:25; 1 John 5:20
- 6 Romans 2:28–29; Galatians 6:16; Romans 11:1–2; Romans 4:12–16; Romans 3:3
- 7 Genesis 21:12; Hebrews 11:18; John 8:37–39; Galatians 4:23; Luke 3:8
- 8 John 1:13; Romans 4:11–16; Galatians 3:26–29; Romans 8:14; Galatians 4:22–31
- 9 Genesis 18:10; Genesis 18:14; Genesis 17:21; Hebrews 11:11–12; Genesis 21:2
- 10 Genesis 25:21–23; Luke 16:26; Romans 5:11; Romans 5:3
- 11 2 Timothy 1:9; Ephesians 1:4–5; 2 Peter 1:10; Romans 8:28–30; Ephesians 1:9–11
- 12 Genesis 25:22–23
- 13 Malachi 1:2–3
- 14 2 Chronicles 19:7; Psalm 145:17; Deuteronomy 32:4; Job 34:10–12; Psalm 92:15
- 15 Exodus 33:19; Romans 9:16; Micah 7:18; Romans 9:18–19; Exodus 34:6–7
- 16 Ephesians 2:8; Philippians 2:13; Matthew 11:25–26; 1 Peter 2:9–10; Ephesians 2:4–5
- 17 Exodus 9:16; Proverbs 16:4; Exodus 14:17–18; Exodus 10:1–2; John 17:26
- 18 Joshua 11:20; Exodus 4:21; Romans 9:15–16; Romans 11:7–8; 2 Thessalonians 2:10–12
- 19 Daniel 4:35; 2 Chronicles 20:6; 1 Corinthians 15:12; 1 Corinthians 15:35; Job 9:19
- 20 Isaiah 29:16; Isaiah 45:9–11; Isaiah 64:8; Job 33:13; Job 36:23
- 21 Isaiah 64:8; 2 Timothy 2:20–21; Proverbs 16:4; Jeremiah 18:3–6; Acts 9:15
- 22 Proverbs 16:4; Jude 4; Romans 9:21; 1 Peter 2:8; 2 Timothy 2:20
- 23 Romans 2:4; Colossians 1:27; 1 Peter 1:2–5; Ephesians 2:10; Romans 5:20–21
- 24 Colossians 3:11; Hebrews 3:1; Ephesians 3:6–8; Galatians 3:28; Romans 11:11–13
- 25 Hosea 2:23; 1 Peter 2:10; Ezekiel 16:8; John 16:27; Romans 1:7
- 26 Hosea 1:9–10; 1 John 3:1–3; Isaiah 43:6; Galatians 3:26; Romans 8:16
- 27 Isaiah 10:20–23; Romans 11:4–6; Isaiah 1:9; Hosea 1:10; Jeremiah 5:10
- 28 Isaiah 10:23; Acts 17:31; Psalm 9:8; Revelation 19:11; Isaiah 30:12–14
- 29 Isaiah 1:9; Isaiah 13:19; James 5:4; Amos 4:11; Jeremiah 50:40
- 30 Philippians 3:9; Hebrews 11:7; Galatians 2:16; Romans 4:11; Galatians 5:5
- 31 Romans 11:7; Romans 3:20; James 2:10–11; Romans 10:2–4; Galatians 5:3–4
- 32 1 Corinthians 1:23; Luke 7:23; 1 Peter 2:8; Romans 11:11; Romans 4:16
- 33 Isaiah 28:16; Isaiah 8:14–15; Romans 10:11; Joel 2:26–27; 1 Peter 2:6–8
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
Did I not seem yesterday to you to have spoken some great and exorbitant things of Paul's love toward Christ? And great indeed they were, too great for any words to express. Yet what you have heard to-day are as far above those things, as those things were above ours.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 11 (1889)
… saints; and discourse how it is that "this mortal body shall put on immortality, and this corruptible shall put on incorruption;" and proclaim in what sense [God] says, "That is a people who was not a people; and she is beloved who was not beloved;" and in what sense He says that "more are the children of her that was …
For it pleased Thee, O Lord, to take away the reproach of diminution from Jacob, that the elder should serve the younger; and Thou hast called the Gentiles into Thine inheritance.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
how did he "take the form of a servant?" how "was the Word made flesh?" and how saith Paul to the Romans, "Of whom as concerning the flesh Christ came, who is God over all?" Therefore that He was of us, and of our substance, and of the Virgin's womb, is manifest from these things, and from others beside; but …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
… is "crowned with glory and honour," and "glory, honour and peace" are laid up by promise "to every man that worketh good." There is moreover a special and peculiar glory for Israelites "to whom," it is said "pertaineth the adoption and the glory...and the service," and the Psalmist speaks of a certain glory of his own, "that my glory may …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)