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¹ Truth, say I, in Christ, I utter no falsehood, - my conscience bearing witness with me in the Holy Spirit, - ² That I have great grief and incessant travail in my heart;³ For I could have wished to be accursed, even I myself, from the Christ, in behalf of my brethren my kinsmen according to the flesh; - ⁴ Who, indeed, are Israelites, whose are the sonship, and the glory, and the covenants, and the legislation, and the divine service, and the promises,⁵ Whose are the fathers, and of whom is the Christ - according to the flesh - he who is over all, God, blessed unto the ages. Amen.

⁶ It is not, however, as though the word of God had failed; for, not all they who are of Israel, the same are Israel.⁷ Neither, because they are seed of Abraham, are all children, - but, In Isaac, shall there be called unto thee a seed.⁸ That is - not the children of the flesh, the same are children of God; but, the children of the promise, are reckoned as a seed.⁹ For, of promise, is this word - According to this season, will I come, and Sarah shall have a son.¹⁰ And, not only so, but, when, Rebekah also, was with child, of one - Isaac our father, - ¹¹ They, in fact, not being yet born, nor having practised anything good or bad, - in order that the purpose of God by way of election might stand, - not by works but by him that was calling,¹² It was said unto her - The elder, shall serve the younger;¹³ Even as it is written - Jacob, have I loved, but, Esau, have I hated.

¹⁴ What, then, shall we say? Is there injustice with God? Far be it!¹⁵ For, unto Moses, he saith - I will have mercy upon whomsoever I can have mercy, and I will have compassion upon whomsoever I can have compassion.¹⁶ Hence, then, it is nor of him that wisheth nor of him that runneth, but of the mercy-shewing God.¹⁷ For the Scripture saith unto Pharaoh - Unto this end, have I raised thee up, that I may thus shew in thee my power, and that I may declare my name in all the earth.¹⁸ Hence, then, - on whom he pleaseth, he hath mercy, and, whom he pleaseth, he doth harden.¹⁹ Thou wilt say to me, then - Why longer findeth he fault? For, his purpose, who hath withstood?²⁰ O man! Who, nevertheless, art, thou, that art answering again unto God? Shall the thing formed say unto him that formed it - Why didst thou make me thus?²¹ Or hath not the potter a right over the clay - out of the same lump, to make some, indeed, into a vessel for honour, and some for dishonour?²² And, if God - wishing to shew his anger and to make known his power - bare, in much patience, with vessels of anger already fitted for destruction,²³ In order that he might make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy which he prepared beforehand for glory, - ²⁴ Whom he also called, even us, not only from among Jews, but also from among the nations, what then?

²⁵ As also in Hosea he saith - I will call the not-my-people, My people, and the not-beloved, beloved,²⁶ And it shall be - in the place where it was said to them- not my people are, ye! there, shall they be called - Sons of a Living God.²⁷ Isaiah, moreover, exclaimeth over Israel - Though the number of the sons of Israel be as the sand of the sea, the remnant, shall be saved;²⁸ For, a complete and concise account, will the Lord make upon the earth.²⁹ And, even as Isaiah hath before said, - If, the Lord of hosts, had not left us a seed, as Sodom, had we become, and, as Gomorrha, had we been made like.

³⁰ What, then, shall we say? That, they of the nations, who were not in pursuit of righteousness, have laid hold of righteousness, - a righteousness, however, which is by faith;³¹ Whereas, Israel, though in pursuit of a law of righteousness, unto a law, have not attained.³² Wherefore? Because, not by faith but as by works, have they sought it : they have stumbled at the stone of stumbling,³³ Even as it is written - Lo! I lay in Zion, a stone to strike against and a rock to stumble over, and, he that resteth faith thereupon, shall not be put to shame.