Romans 11
1 I ask, then: Has God rejected his people? By no means! For I too am an Israelite, descended from Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God has not rejected his people, whom he foreknew. Or do you not know what Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?
3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I alone am left, and they are trying to take my life.”
4 But what is the divine answer to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
6 And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
7 What then? Israel did not obtain what it was seeking, but the chosen did, and the rest were hardened.
8 As it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear, down to this very day.”
9 And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a punishment for them.
10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and bend their backs forever.”
11 I ask, then: Did they stumble so that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation came to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.
12 Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness mean!
13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles: insofar as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I honor my ministry.
14 I do this to see if I can somehow make my own people jealous and save some of them.
15 For if their rejection means reconciliation for the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?
16 If the first portion is holy, so is the whole batch; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 But some of the branches were broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and became a sharer in the root and the richness of the olive tree.
18 Do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember that you do not support the root; the root supports you.
19 Then you will say, “The branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.”
20 That is true. They were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.
21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
22 Consider, then, the kindness and severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but God's kindness toward you, if you remain in his kindness. Otherwise, you too will be cut off.
23 And they too, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
24 For if you were cut from what was by nature a wild olive tree and, contrary to nature, grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree!
25 For I do not want you, brothers and sisters, to be unaware of this mystery, so that you will not think yourselves wise: a hardening has come upon part of Israel until the full number of the Gentiles comes in.
26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn ungodliness away from Jacob.
27 And this will be my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”
28 As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake; but as regards election, they are loved because of the ancestors.
29 For God's gifts and calling are irrevocable.
30 For just as you once disobeyed God, but now have received mercy because of their disobedience,
31 so they too have now disobeyed, so that through the mercy shown to you they too may now receive mercy.
32 For God has confined everyone to disobedience so that he may show mercy to everyone.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches, wisdom, and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and how beyond tracing are his ways!
34 For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?
35 Or who has given to him first, so that he must be repaid?
36 For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be glory forever! Amen.
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