Romans 11

The Remnant of Israel

¹I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.²God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel?³“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.”⁴But what is God's reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”⁵So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.⁶But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

⁷What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,⁸as it is written,

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,

eyes that would not see

and ears that would not hear,

down to this very day.”

⁹And David says,

“Let their table become a snare and a trap,

a stumbling block and a retribution for them;

¹⁰let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,

and bend their backs forever.”

Gentiles Grafted In

¹¹So I ask, did they stumble in order that they might fall? By no means! Rather, through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.¹²Now 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!

¹³Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry¹⁴in order somehow to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.¹⁵For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?¹⁶If the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole lump, and if the root is holy, so are the branches.

¹⁷But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, although a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing root of the olive tree,¹⁸do not be arrogant toward the branches. If you are, remember it is not you who support the root, but the root that supports you.¹⁹Then you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”²⁰That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast through faith. So do not become proud, but fear.²¹For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.²²Note 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.²³And even they, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.²⁴For if you were 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, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree.

The Mystery of Israel's Salvation

²⁵Lest you be wise in your own sight, I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers: a partial hardening has come upon Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.²⁶And in this way 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.”

²⁸As regards the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But as regards election, they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.²⁹For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.³⁰For just as you were at one time disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience,³¹so they too have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may now receive mercy.³²For God has consigned all to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

³³Oh, 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?”

³⁶For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever. Amen.