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¹ I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.² God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Eli'jah, how he pleads with God against Israel?³ "Lord, they have killed thy prophets, they have demolished thy altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life."⁴ But what is God's reply to him? "I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Ba'al."⁵ So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.⁶ But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.⁷ What then? Israel failed to obtain what it sought. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,⁸ as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that should not see and ears that should not hear, down to this very day."⁹ And David says, "Let their table become a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a retribution for them;¹⁰ let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs for ever."¹¹ So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means! But through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.¹² Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!¹³ Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry¹⁴ in order to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.¹⁵ For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?¹⁶ If the dough offered as first fruits is holy, so is the whole lump; and if the root is holy, so are the branches.¹⁷ But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the richness of the olive tree,¹⁸ do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you.¹⁹ You will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in."²⁰ That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe.²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.²² Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness; otherwise you too will be cut off.²³ And even the others, if they do not persist in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.²⁴ For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree.²⁵ Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brethren: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in,²⁶ and so all Israel will be saved; as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness 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 of God, for your sake; but as regards election they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.²⁹ For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.³⁰ Just as you were once disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience,³¹ so they have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may receive mercy.³² For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all.

³³ O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!³⁴ "For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?"³⁵ "Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?"³⁶ For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory for ever. Amen.