Romans 11

¹I ask then, has God pushed aside his own people? May it never be! For I myself am an Israelite, from the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. ²God has not pushed aside his people whom he knew and chose from the beginning. Do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? ³“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have torn down your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.” ⁴But what is the divine response to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” ⁵So in the same way, at this present time, there has come to be a remnant according to the selection of grace. ⁶But if it is by grace, it is no longer based on works; otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.

⁷What then? What Israel is searching for, it did not obtain, but the chosen ones obtained it; the rest were hardened into a callous— ⁸as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear, until this very day.” ⁹And David says: “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a retribution to them; ¹⁰let their eyes be darkened so that they do not see, and keep their backs bent forever.”

¹¹I ask then, did they stumble so as to fall completely away? May it never be! Rather, by their false step, salvation has come to the nations to make Israel jealous. ¹²Now if their false step means wealth for the world, and if their loss means wealth for the nations, how much more will their full complement bring!

¹³I am speaking to you, the nations. Insofar as I am an apostle to the nations, I honor my ministry ¹⁴in the hope that I might somehow make my own flesh and blood jealous and so save some of them. ¹⁵For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? ¹⁶If the first handful of dough is holy, so is the whole batch; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

¹⁷But if some of the branches were broken off, and you—a wild olive shoot—were grafted in among them and became a sharer in the rich root of the olive tree, ¹⁸do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember: you do not support the root, the root supports you. ¹⁹You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” ²⁰That is true. They were broken off because of their lack of trust, but you stand only by trust. Do not be arrogant, but stand in awe. ²¹For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.

²²See then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who fell, but God’s kindness toward you—provided you remain in that kindness. Otherwise, you too will be cut off. ²³And even they, if they do not remain in their lack of trust, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴For if you were cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree and, contrary to nature, were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree!

²⁵For I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you will not be wise in your own conceits: a partial hardening has come upon Israel until the full complement of the nations has come in. ²⁶And in this way, all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come from Zion; he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. ²⁷And this is my covenant with them when I take away their sins.”

²⁸Regarding the gospel, they are enemies for your sake; but regarding the selection, they are beloved for the sake of the fathers. ²⁹For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. ³⁰Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy through their disobedience, ³¹so they too have now been disobedient so that through the mercy shown to you, they also may now receive mercy. ³²For God has imprisoned everyone together in disobedience so that he may show mercy to everyone.

³³O the depth of the wealth and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unfathomable are his judgments and how untraceable his ways! ³⁴“For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has become his counselor?” ³⁵“Or who has first given to him, that he should be repaid?” ³⁶Because from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever, amen.