NETfree - Romans - 11

11:1  So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

11:2  God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew! Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?

11:3  "Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left and they are seeking my life!"

11:4  But what was the divine response to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand people who have not bent the knee to Baal."

11:5  So in the same way at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.

11:6  And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

11:7  What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was diligently seeking, but the elect obtained it. The rest were hardened,

11:8  as it is written,"God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, to this very day."

11:9  And David says,"Let their table become a snare and trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them;

11:10  let their eyes be darkened so that they may not see, and make their backs bend continually."

11:11  I ask then, they did not stumble into an irrevocable fall, did they? Absolutely not! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel jealous.

11:12  Now if their transgression means riches for the world and their defeat means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full restoration bring?

11:13  Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Seeing that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,

11:14  if somehow I could provoke my people to jealousy and save some of them.

11:15  For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?

11:16  If the first portion of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy, and if the root is holy, so too are the branches.

11:17  Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and participated in the richness of the olive root,

11:18  do not boast over the branches. But if you boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.

11:19  Then you will say, "The branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in."

11:20  Granted! They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear!

11:21  For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you.

11:22  Notice therefore the kindness and harshness of God - harshness toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.

11:23  And even they - if they do not continue in their unbelief - will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

11:24  For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree?

11:25  For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not be conceited: A partial hardening has happened to Israel until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.

11:26  And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written:"The Deliverer will come out of Zion; he will remove ungodliness from Jacob.

11:27  And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins."

11:28  In regard to the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but in regard to election they are dearly loved for the sake of the fathers.

11:29  For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.

11:30  Just as you were formerly disobedient to God, but have now received mercy due to their disobedience,

11:31  so they too have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they too may now receive mercy.

11:32  For God has consigned all people to disobedience so that he may show mercy to them all.

11:33  Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how fathomless his ways!

11:34  For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?

11:35  Or who has first given to God, that God needs to repay him?

11:36  For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen.