| New King James Version | Berean Study Bible |
| 1I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, | 1I speak the truth in Christ; I am not lying, as confirmed by my conscience in the Holy Spirit. |
| 2that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. | 2I have deep sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. |
| 3For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, | 3For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood, |
| 4who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; | 4the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises. |
| 5of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. | 5Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them proceeds the human descent of Christ, who is God over all, forever worthy of praise! Amen. |
| 6But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, | 6It is not as though God’s word has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. |
| 7nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” | 7Nor because they are Abraham’s descendants are they all his children. On the contrary, “Through Isaac your offspring will be reckoned.” |
| 8That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. | 8So it is not the children of the flesh who are God’s children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as offspring. |
| 9For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.” | 9For this is what the promise stated: “At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son.” |
| 10And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac | 10Not only that, but Rebecca’s children were conceived by one man, our father Isaac. |
| 11(for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), | 11Yet before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad, in order that God’s plan of election might stand, |
| 12it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” | 12not by works but by Him who calls, she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” |
| 13As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” | 13So it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” |
| 14What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! | 14What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Certainly not! |
| 15For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” | 15For He says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” |
| 16So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. | 16So then, it does not depend on man’s desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. |
| 17For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” | 17For the 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.” |
| 18Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. | 18Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden. |
| 19You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” | 19One of you will say to me, “Then why does God still find fault? For who can resist His will?” |
| 20But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” | 20But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? Shall what is formed say to Him who formed it, “Why did You make me like this?” |
| 21Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? | 21Does not the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special occasions and another for common use? |
| 22What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, | 22What if God, intending to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the vessels of His wrath, prepared for destruction? |
| 23and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, | 23What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the vessels of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory— |
| 24even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? | 24including us, whom He has called not only from the Jews, but also from the Gentiles? |
| 25As He says also in Hosea: “I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved.” | 25As He says in Hosea: “I will call them ‘My People’ who are not My people, and I will call her ‘My Beloved’ who is not My beloved,” |
| 26“And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.” | 26and, “It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’ ” |
| 27Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, The remnant will be saved. | 27Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the Israelites is like the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved. |
| 28For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, Because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.” | 28For the Lord will carry out His sentence on the earth thoroughly and decisively.” |
| 29And as Isaiah said before: “Unless the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed, We would have become like Sodom, And we would have been made like Gomorrah.” | 29It is just as Isaiah foretold: “Unless the Lord of Hosts had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have resembled Gomorrah.” |
| 30What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; | 30What then will we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; |
| 31but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. | 31but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. |
| 32Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. | 32Why not? Because their pursuit was not by faith, but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, |
| 33As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” | 33as it is written: “See, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense; and the one who believes in Him will never be put to shame.” |
|
