Romans 9 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

I'm speaking the absolute truth as someone united with The One — I am not lying. My conscience, which The Breath of God directs, confirms what I'm saying.

I carry deep sorrow and constant anguish in my heart.

I could actually wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from The One if it meant my own people — my brothers by blood — could be saved.

They're Israelites — God chose them as His children, showed them His glory, made covenants with them, gave them His Law, set up worship for them, and made promises to them.

The patriarchs belong to them, and from their family line, in terms of human descent, came The One — who is God over everything, praised forever. Amen.

This doesn't mean God's promise has failed. Not everyone descended from Israel is truly part of Israel.

Not everyone descended from Abraham counts as his true child. God told Abraham: 'Your line will continue through Isaac.'

In other words, being born into Abraham's family line doesn't automatically make someone God's child. Rather, it's those who belong to the promise who are counted as his true descendants.

Because this is what the promise said: 'About this time next year I'll return, and Sarah will have a son.'

And not only that, but Rebecca became pregnant by just one man — our ancestor Isaac.

Before the twins were even born or had done anything good or bad, God told Rebecca what would happen. This shows that God's plan depends entirely on His choice, not on what people do.

She was told, 'The older will serve the younger.'

Just as the Scriptures say: 'I loved Jacob, but I rejected Esau.'

So what does this mean? Is God being unfair? Absolutely not!

God told Moses, 'I will show kindness to whoever I choose to show kindness, and I will have compassion on whoever I choose to have compassion.'

So then, it doesn't depend on what anyone wants or how hard they try—it depends entirely on God showing kindness.

The Scriptures say to Pharaoh: 'I put you in power for this very reason — so I could demonstrate My power through you, and so My reputation would be known everywhere on earth.'

So God shows kindness to whoever He chooses, and He hardens whoever He chooses.

You might be thinking, 'Then why does God still hold people accountable? After all, who can resist what He has decided to do?'

But seriously—who are you to talk back to God? Does what's been made ever say to its maker, 'Why did you make me this way?'

Doesn't the potter have the right to take the same lump of clay and shape one container for something valuable and honored, and another for everyday, ordinary use?

What if God, though wanting to demonstrate His anger and make His power known, patiently tolerated those who were headed for destruction — people who deserved His judgment?

He also wanted to reveal the incredible richness of His glory to those who receive His mercy—people He prepared ahead of time to experience that glory.

We are among those He called — not only from the Jewish people, but from every nation.

As God says through Hosea: 'I will call those who weren't My people "My people," and I will call her who wasn't loved "My beloved."'

And in the very place where they were told, 'You are not my people,' there they will be called children of the living God.

Isaiah urgently declares about Israel: 'Even though the Israelites might be as numerous as sand on the seashore, only a remnant will be rescued.'

For the Lord will carry out His sentence on the earth completely and swiftly.

Isaiah saw this coming when he wrote: 'If the Lord of Heaven's Armies hadn't preserved a few of our descendants, we would have been completely wiped out like Sodom — totally destroyed like Gomorrah.'

So what are we saying? Non-Jewish people who weren't trying to be made right with God ended up being made right with Him — and they achieved this through trust.

But the Israelites, who worked hard to follow the law so they could be right with God, never reached that goal.

Why didn't they reach it? Because they pursued it not by trusting God but by trying to earn it through their own efforts. They stumbled over the stone that trips people up.

This is exactly what the Scriptures foretold: 'Look — I'm placing in Zion a stone that makes people trip and a rock that causes them to fall. But anyone who trusts in Him will never be let down.'