⁶ He said, “Can I not do with you, Israel, as this potter does?” declares the Lord. “Like clay^(A) in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand,^(B) Israel.

Paul’s Anguish Over Israel

9 I speak the truth in Christ—I am not lying,^(A) my conscience confirms^(B) it through the Holy Spirit— ² I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³ For I could wish that I myself^(C) were cursed^(D) and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people,^(E) those of my own race,^{(F) 4} the people of Israel.^(G) Theirs is the adoption to sonship;^(H) theirs the divine glory,^(I) the covenants,^(J) the receiving of the law,^(K) the temple worship^(L) and the promises.^{(M) 5} Theirs are the patriarchs,^(N) and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah,^(O) who is God over all,^(P) forever praised!^[a](Q) Amen.

God’s Sovereign Choice

⁶ It is not as though God’s word^(R) had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.^{(S) 7} Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”^{[b](T) 8} In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children,^(U) but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.^{(V) 9} For this was how the promise was stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.”^[c](W)

¹⁰ Not only that, but Rebekah’s children were conceived at the same time by our father Isaac.^{(X) 11} Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad^(Y)—in order that God’s purpose^(Z) in election might stand: ¹² not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.”^{[d](AA) 13} Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”^[e](AB)

¹⁴ What then shall we say?^(AC) Is God unjust? Not at all!^{(AD) 15} For he says to Moses,

¹⁶ It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.^{(AF) 17} For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”^{[g](AG) 18} Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.^(AH)

¹⁹ One of you will say to me:^(AI) “Then why does God still blame us?^(AJ) For who is able to resist his will?”^{(AK) 20} But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?^(AL) “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,^(AM) ‘Why did you make me like this?’”^{[h](AN) 21} Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?^(AO)

²² What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience^(AP) the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?^{(AQ) 23} What if he did this to make the riches of his glory^(AR) known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory^(AS)— ²⁴ even us, whom he also called,^(AT) not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?^{(AU) 25} As he says in Hosea:

²⁶ and,

²⁷ Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:

²⁹ It is just as Isaiah said previously:

Israel’s Unbelief

³⁰ What then shall we say?^(BC) That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;^{(BD) 31} but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness,^(BE) have not attained their goal.^{(BF) 32} Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.^{(BG) 33} As it is written: