| New King James Version | NET Bible |
| 1I tell the truth in Christ, I am not lying, my conscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Spirit, | 1I am telling the truth in Christ (I am not lying!), for my conscience assures me in the Holy Spirit-- |
| 2that I have great sorrow and continual grief in my heart. | 2I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. |
| 3For I could wish that I myself were accursed from Christ for my brethren, my countrymen according to the flesh, | 3For I could wish that I myself were accursed--cut off from Christ--for the sake of my people, my fellow countrymen, |
| 4who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises; | 4who are Israelites. To them belong the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises. |
| 5of whom are the fathers and from whom, according to the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, the eternally blessed God. Amen. | 5To them belong the patriarchs, and from them, by human descent, came the Christ, who is God over all, blessed forever! Amen. |
| 6But it is not that the word of God has taken no effect. For they are not all Israel who are of Israel, | 6It is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all those who are descended from Israel are truly Israel, |
| 7nor are they all children because they are the seed of Abraham; but, “In Isaac your seed shall be called.” | 7nor are all the children Abraham's true descendants; rather "through Isaac will your descendants be counted." |
| 8That is, those who are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted as the seed. | 8This means it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God; rather, the children of promise are counted as descendants. |
| 9For this is the word of promise: “At this time I will come and Sarah shall have a son.” | 9For this is what the promise declared: "About a year from now I will return and Sarah will have a son." |
| 10And not only this, but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, even by our father Isaac | 10Not only that, but when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our ancestor Isaac-- |
| 11(for the children not yet being born, nor having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works but of Him who calls), | 11even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God's purpose in election would stand, not by works but by his calling)-- |
| 12it was said to her, “The older shall serve the younger.” | 12it was said to her, "The older will serve the younger," |
| 13As it is written, “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.” | 13just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." |
| 14What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? Certainly not! | 14What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not! |
| 15For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I will have compassion.” | 15For he says to Moses: "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." |
| 16So then it is not of him who wills, nor of him who runs, but of God who shows mercy. | 16So then, it does not depend on human desire or exertion, but on God who shows mercy. |
| 17For the Scripture says to the Pharaoh, “For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth.” | 17For the scripture says to Pharaoh: "For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I may demonstrate my power in you, and that my name may be proclaimed in all the earth." |
| 18Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens. | 18So then, God has mercy on whom he chooses to have mercy, and he hardens whom he chooses to harden. |
| 19You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” | 19You will say to me then, "Why does he still find fault? For who has ever resisted his will?" |
| 20But indeed, O man, who are you to reply against God? Will the thing formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?” | 20But who indeed are you--a mere human being--to talk back to God? Does what is molded say to the molder, "Why have you made me like this?" |
| 21Does not the potter have power over the clay, from the same lump to make one vessel for honor and another for dishonor? | 21Has the potter no right to make from the same lump of clay one vessel for special use and another for ordinary use? |
| 22What if God, wanting to show His wrath and to make His power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath prepared for destruction, | 22But what if God, willing to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience the objects of wrath prepared for destruction? |
| 23and that He might make known the riches of His glory on the vessels of mercy, which He had prepared beforehand for glory, | 23And what if he is willing to make known the wealth of his glory on the objects of mercy that he has prepared beforehand for glory-- |
| 24even us whom He called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles? | 24even us, whom he has called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? |
| 25As He says also in Hosea: “I will call them My people, who were not My people, And her beloved, who was not beloved.” | 25As he also says in Hosea: "I will call those who were not my people, 'My people,' and I will call her who was unloved, 'My beloved.'" |
| 26“And it shall come to pass in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not My people,’ There they shall be called sons of the living God.” | 26"And in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' there they will be called 'sons of the living God.'" |
| 27Isaiah also cries out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the children of Israel be as the sand of the sea, The remnant will be saved. | 27And Isaiah cries out on behalf of Israel, "Though the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved, |
| 28For He will finish the work and cut it short in righteousness, Because the LORD will make a short work upon the earth.” | 28for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth completely and quickly." |
| 29And as Isaiah said before: “Unless the LORD of Sabaoth had left us a seed, We would have become like Sodom, And we would have been made like Gomorrah.” | 29Just as Isaiah predicted, "If the Lord of armies had not left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have resembled Gomorrah." |
| 30What shall we say then? That Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness of faith; | 30What shall we say then?--that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness obtained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith, |
| 31but Israel, pursuing the law of righteousness, has not attained to the law of righteousness. | 31but Israel even though pursuing a law of righteousness did not attain it. |
| 32Why? Because they did not seek it by faith, but as it were, by the works of the law. For they stumbled at that stumbling stone. | 32Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone, |
| 33As it is written: “Behold, I lay in Zion a stumbling stone and rock of offense, And whoever believes on Him will not be put to shame.” | 33just as it is written, "Look, I am laying in Zion a stone that will cause people to stumble and a rock that will make them fall, yet the one who believes in him will not be put to shame." |
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