God's Sovereign Choice

¹aI am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— ²that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³For bI could wish that I myself were caccursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers,1 my kinsmen daccording to the flesh. ⁴They are eIsraelites, and to them belong fthe adoption, gthe glory, hthe covenants, ithe giving of the law, jthe worship, and kthe promises. ⁵To them belong lthe patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, mwho is God over all, nblessed forever. Amen.

⁶But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, ⁷and not all are children of Abraham obecause they are his offspring, but p“Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” ⁸This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but qthe children of the promise are counted as offspring. ⁹For this is what the promise said: r“About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁰And not only so, but salso when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, ¹¹though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of thim who calls— ¹²she was told, u“The older will serve the younger.” ¹³As it is written, v“Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

¹⁴What shall we say then? wIs there injustice on God's part? By no means! ¹⁵For he says to Moses, x“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” ¹⁶So then it depends not on human will or exertion,2 but on God, who has mercy. ¹⁷For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, y“For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” ¹⁸So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

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