11:1 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.
11:2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?
11:3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.”
11:4 But what is the divine reply to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
11:5 So, too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
11:6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
11:7 What then? Israel has not achieved what it was pursuing. The elect have achieved it, but the rest were hardened,
11:8 as it is written, “God gave them a sluggish spirit, eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear, down to this very day.”
11:9 And David says, “Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
11:10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and keep their backs forever bent.”
11:11 So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means! But through their stumbling salvation has come to the gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.
11:12 Now if their stumbling means riches for the world and if their loss means riches for gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!
11:13 Now I am speaking to you gentiles. Inasmuch as I am an apostle to the gentiles, I celebrate my ministry
11:14 in order to make my own people jealous and thus save some of them.
11:15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
11:16 If the part of the dough offered as first fruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; and if the root is holy, then the branches also are holy.
11:17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted among the others to share the rich root of the olive tree,
11:18 do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember: you do not support the root, but the root supports you.
11:19 You will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”
11:20 That is true. They were broken off on account of unbelief, but you stand on account of belief. So do not become arrogant, but be afraid.
11:21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
11:22 Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen but God’s kindness toward you, if you continue in his kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off.
11:23 And even those of Israel, if they do not continue in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.
11:24 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.
11:25 I want you to understand this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you may not claim to be wiser than you are: a hardening has come upon part of Israel until the full number of the gentiles has come in.
11:26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written, “Out of Zion will come the Deliverer; he will banish ungodliness from Jacob.”
11:27 “And this is my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.”
11:28 As regards the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but as regards election they are beloved for the sake of their ancestors,
11:29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.
11:30 Just as you were once disobedient to God but have now received mercy because of their disobedience,
11:31 so also they have now been disobedient in order that, by the mercy shown to you, they also may now receive mercy.
11:32 For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that he may be merciful to all.
11:33 O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
11:34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?”
11:35 “Or who has given a gift to him, to receive a gift in return?”
11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.
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