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Romans 9

Solicitude for Israel

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 aI am telling the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience testifies with me in the Holy Spirit,

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that I have great sorrow and unceasing grief in my heart.

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For  aI could  1wish that I myself were  baccursed, separated from Christ for the sake of my brethren, my kinsmen  caccording to the flesh,

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who are  aIsraelites, to whom belongs  bthe adoption as sons, and  cthe glory and  dthe covenants and  ethe giving of the Law and  fthe temple service and  gthe promises,

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whose are  athe fathers, and  bfrom whom is  1the Christ according to the flesh,  cwho is over all,  dGod  eblessed  2forever. Amen.

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But it is not as though  athe word of God has failed.  bFor they are not all Israel who are descended from Israel;

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nor are they all children  abecause they are Abraham's  1descendants, but: " 2 bTHROUGH ISAAC YOUR  1DESCENDANTS WILL BE NAMED."

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That is, it is not the children of the flesh who are  achildren of God, but the  bchildren of the promise are regarded as  1descendants.

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For this is the word of promise: " aAT THIS TIME I WILL COME, AND SARAH SHALL HAVE A SON."

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 aAnd not only this, but there was  bRebekah also, when she had conceived twins by one man, our father Isaac;

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for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that  aGod's purpose according to His choice would  1stand, not  2because of works but  2because of Him who calls,

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it was said to her, " aTHE OLDER WILL SERVE THE YOUNGER."

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Just as it is written, " aJACOB I LOVED, BUT ESAU I HATED."

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 aWhat shall we say then?  bThere is no injustice with God, is there?  cMay it never be!

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For He says to Moses, " aI WILL HAVE MERCY ON WHOM I HAVE MERCY, AND I WILL HAVE COMPASSION ON WHOM I HAVE COMPASSION."

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So then it does not depend on the man who wills or the man who  aruns, but on  bGod who has mercy.

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For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, " aFOR THIS VERY PURPOSE I RAISED YOU UP, TO DEMONSTRATE MY POWER IN YOU, AND THAT MY NAME MIGHT BE PROCLAIMED  1THROUGHOUT THE WHOLE EARTH."

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So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He  ahardens whom He desires.

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 aYou will say to me then, " bWhy does He still find fault? For  cwho resists His will?"

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On the contrary, who are you,  aO man, who  banswers back to God?  cThe thing molded will not say to the molder, "Why did you make me like this," will it?

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Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one vessel  1for honorable use and another  2for common use?

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 1What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much  apatience vessels of wrath  bprepared for destruction?

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And He did so to make known  athe riches of His glory upon  bvessels of mercy, which He  cprepared beforehand for glory,

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even us, whom He also  acalled,  bnot from among Jews only, but also from among Gentiles.

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As He says also in Hosea, " aI WILL CALL THOSE WHO WERE NOT MY PEOPLE, `MY PEOPLE,' AND HER WHO WAS NOT BELOVED, `BELOVED.' "

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aAND IT SHALL BE THAT IN THE PLACE WHERE IT WAS SAID TO THEM, `YOU ARE NOT MY PEOPLE,' THERE THEY SHALL BE CALLED SONS OF  bTHE LIVING GOD."

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Isaiah cries out concerning Israel, " aTHOUGH THE NUMBER OF THE SONS OF ISRAEL BE  bLIKE THE SAND OF THE SEA, IT IS  cTHE REMNANT THAT WILL BE SAVED;

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 aFOR THE LORD WILL EXECUTE HIS WORD ON THE EARTH,  1THOROUGHLY AND  2QUICKLY."

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And just as Isaiah foretold, " aUNLESS  bTHE LORD OF  1SABAOTH HAD LEFT TO US A  2POSTERITY,  cWE WOULD HAVE BECOME LIKE SODOM, AND WOULD HAVE  3RESEMBLED GOMORRAH."

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 aWhat shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, attained righteousness, even  bthe righteousness which is  1by faith;

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but Israel,  apursuing a law of righteousness, did not  barrive at that law.

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Why? Because they did not pursue it  1by faith, but as though it were  1by works. They stumbled over  athe stumbling stone,

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just as it is written, " aBEHOLD, I LAY IN ZION  bA STONE OF STUMBLING AND A ROCK OF OFFENSE,  cAND HE WHO BELIEVES IN HIM  dWILL NOT BE  1DISAPPOINTED."



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(Produced: Sat Dec 22 11:24:22 2007)

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