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Read the Bible

English Revised Version

Romans 9:18

So then he hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - God Continued...;   Predestination;   Scofield Reference Index - Israel;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Anger of God, the;   Mercy of God, the;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Election;   Pharaoh;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Covenant;   Destroy, Destruction;   Hardening, Hardness of Heart;   Mercy;   Providence of God;   Worship;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Calvinists;   Independency of God;   Mercy of God;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Predestination;   Sovereignty;   Fausset Bible Dictionary - Elect;   Micaiah;   Old Testament;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Election;   Justification;   Mercy, Merciful;   Plagues;   Predestination;   Romans, Book of;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Election;   Evil;   Hardening;   Paul the Apostle;   Plagues of Egypt;   Predestination;   Romans, Epistle to the;   Hastings' Dictionary of the New Testament - Election;   Free Will;   Hardening;   Hardening of Heart;   Paul (2);   Pity Compassion;   Repentance;   Will;   The Hawker's Poor Man's Concordance And Dictionary - Esau;   Plagues of egypt;   Wilson's Dictionary of Bible Types - Hardeneth;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Election;   Harden;   Predestination;  

Parallel Translations

Christian Standard Bible®
So then, he has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
King James Version (1611)
Therefore hath hee mercie on whom hee will haue mercy, and whom he will, he hardeneth.
King James Version
Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
English Standard Version
So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
New American Standard Bible
So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
New Century Version
So God shows mercy where he wants to show mercy, and he makes stubborn the people he wants to make stubborn.
Amplified Bible
So then, He has mercy on whom He wills (chooses), and He hardens [the heart of] whom He wills.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
Legacy Standard Bible
So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
Berean Standard Bible
Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden.
Contemporary English Version
Everything depends on what God decides to do, and he can either have pity on people or make them stubborn.
Complete Jewish Bible
So then, he has mercy on whom he wants, and he hardens whom he wants.
Darby Translation
So then, to whom he will he shews mercy, and whom he will he hardens.
Easy-to-Read Version
So God shows mercy to those he wants to show mercy to and makes stubborn those he wants to make stubborn.
Geneva Bible (1587)
Therefore he hath mercie on whome he will, and whom he will, he hardeneth.
George Lamsa Translation
Thus he has mercy on whom he pleases, and he hardens whom he pleases.
Good News Translation
So then, God has mercy on anyone he wishes, and he makes stubborn anyone he wishes.
Lexham English Bible
Consequently therefore, he has mercy on whomever he wishes, and he hardens whomever he wishes.
Literal Translation
So, then, to whom He desires, He shows mercy. And to whom He desires, He hardens.
American Standard Version
So then he hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth.
Bible in Basic English
So then, at his pleasure he has mercy on a man, and at his pleasure he makes the heart hard.
Hebrew Names Version
So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.
International Standard Version
Therefore, Godhe">[fn] has mercy on whomever he chooses, and he hardens the heart of whomever he chooses.
Etheridge Translation
Then upon whom he willeth he is merciful, and whom he willeth he hardeneth.
Murdock Translation
Wherefore, he hath pity upon whom he pleaseth; and whom he pleaseth, he hardeneth.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
So hath he mercy on whom he wyll, and whom he wyll, he hardeneth.
World English Bible
So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.
Wesley's New Testament (1755)
So then he hath mercy on whom he willeth, and whom he willeth, he hardneth.
Weymouth's New Testament
This is a proof that wherever He chooses He shows mercy, and wherever he chooses He hardens the heart.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
Therfor of whom God wole, he hath merci; and whom he wole, he endurith.
Update Bible Version
So then he has mercy on whom he wants, and he hardens whom he wants.
Webster's Bible Translation
Therefore he hath mercy on whom he will [have mercy], and whom he will he hardeneth.
New English Translation
So then, God has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden.
New King James Version
Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.
New Living Translation
So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen.
New Life Bible
So God has loving-kindness for those He wants to. He makes some have hard hearts if He wants to.
New Revised Standard
So then he has mercy on whomever he chooses, and he hardens the heart of whomever he chooses.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Hence, then, - on whom he pleaseth, he hath mercy, and, whom he pleaseth, he doth harden.
Douay-Rheims Bible
Therefore he hath mercy on whom he will. And whom he will, he hardeneth.
Revised Standard Version
So then he has mercy upon whomever he wills, and he hardens the heart of whomever he wills.
Tyndale New Testament (1525)
So hath he mercye on whom he will and whom he will he maketh hearde herted.
Young's Literal Translation
so, then, to whom He willeth, He doth kindness, and to whom He willeth, He doth harden.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
Thus hath he mercy on whom he wyl: and whom he wyl, he hardeneth.
Mace New Testament (1729)
thus some he pursues with his favours, and abandons others to their obduracy, according as he thinks fit.
Simplified Cowboy Version
You ain't got to like it, but the truth is that God gets to choose who he will save and whose hearts will be hardened against him.

Contextual Overview

14 What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. 15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion. 16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that hath mercy. 17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, For this very purpose did I raise thee up, that I might shew in thee my power, and that my name might be published abroad in all the earth. 18 So then he hath mercy on whom he will, and whom he will he hardeneth. 19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he still find fault? For who withstandeth his will? 20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why didst thou make me thus? 21 Or hath not the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? 22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering vessels of wrath fitted unto destruction: 23 and that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy, which he afore prepared unto glory,

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

hath: Romans 9:15, Romans 9:16, Romans 5:20, Romans 5:21, Ephesians 1:6

will he: Romans 1:24-28, Romans 11:7, Romans 11:8, Exodus 4:21, Exodus 7:13, Deuteronomy 2:30, Joshua 11:20, Isaiah 63:17, Matthew 13:14, Matthew 13:15, Acts 28:26-28, 2 Thessalonians 2:10-12

Reciprocal: Genesis 19:16 - the Lord Exodus 9:7 - the heart Exodus 10:20 - General Deuteronomy 7:7 - The Lord Job 9:12 - What Psalms 69:27 - Add Psalms 86:2 - holy Isaiah 43:13 - I will work Hosea 2:4 - I will not Matthew 11:26 - for John 12:40 - hardened Acts 19:9 - divers Romans 3:5 - Is God Romans 9:21 - the potter 1 Corinthians 12:11 - as

Cross-References

Genesis 9:23
And Shem and Japheth took a garment, and laid it upon both their shoulders, and went backward, and covered the nakedness of their father; and their faces were backward, and they saw not their father's nakedness.
Genesis 9:25
And he said, Cursed be Canaan; A servant of servants shall he be unto his brethren.
Genesis 9:27
God enlarge Japheth, And let him dwell in the tents of Shem; And let Canaan be his servant.
Genesis 10:1
Now these are the generations of the sons of Noah, Shem Ham and Japheth: and unto them were sons born after the flood.
Genesis 10:6
And the sons of Ham; Cush, and Mizraim, and Put, and Canaan.
1 Chronicles 1:4
Noah, Shem, Ham, and Japheth.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will,.... These are the express words of the former testimony: it follows,

and whom he will he hardeneth; which is the just and natural consequence of what is contained in the latter; for if God could, or he did, without any injustice, raise up Pharaoh, and harden his heart against him and his people, that he might rise up against him and destroy him by his power for his own glory, then he may harden any other person, and even whom he will: now this hardening of men's hearts may be understood in perfect agreement with the justice and holiness of God: men first harden their own hearts by sinning, as Pharaoh did; what God does, is by leaving them to the hardness of their hearts, denying them that grace which only can soften them, and which he is not obliged to give, and therefore does them no injustice in withholding it from them; by sending them both mercies and judgments, which through the corruption of their hearts, are the means of the greater hardening of them; so judgments in the case of Pharaoh, and mercies in the case of others; see Isaiah 6:10; by delivering them up into the hands of Satan, and to their own lusts, which they themselves approve of; and by giving them up to a judicial blindness and hardness of heart, as a just punishment for their impieties.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Therefore hath he mercy ... - This is a conclusion stated by the apostle as the result of all the argument.

Whom he will he hardeneth - This is not stated in what the Scripture said to Pharaoh, but is a conclusion to which the apostle had arrived, in view of the case of Pharaoh. The word “hardeneth” means only to harden in the manner specified in the case of Pharaoh. It does not mean to exert a positive influence, but to leave a sinner to his own course, and to place him in circumstances where the character will be more and more developed; see the note at John 12:40. It implies, however, an act of sovereignty on the part of God in thus leaving him to his chosen course, and in not putting forth that influence by which he could be saved from death. Why this is, the apostle does not state. We should, however, not dispute a fact everywhere prevalent; and should have sufficient confidence in God to believe that it is in accordance with infinite wisdom and rectitude.

Clarke's Notes on the Bible

Verse 18. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will — This is the apostle's conclusion from the facts already laid down: that God, according to his own will and wisdom, in perfect righteousness, bestows mercy; that is to say, his blessings upon one part of mankind, (the Jews of old, and the Gentiles of the present time,) while he suffers another part (the Egyptians of old, and the Jews of the present day) to go on in the abuse of his goodness and forbearance, hardening themselves in sin, till he brings upon them a most just and exemplary punishment, unless this be prevented by their deep repentance and general return to God through Jesus the promised, the real Messiah.


 
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