19 You will say to me then, Why does He still find fault? For who withstands His will?
20 But rather, aO man, who are you who answer back to God? Shall the thing molded say to him who molded it, Why did you make me thus?
21 Or does not the apotter have authority over the clay to make out of the same lump one 1bvessel unto honor and another unto dishonor?
22 And what if God, wishing to demonstrate His awrath and make His power known, endured with much long-suffering vessels of wrath fitted for destruction,
23 In order that He might make known the ariches of His glory upon bvessels of cmercy, which He had before prepared unto 1dglory,
24 Even us, whom He has also acalled, not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles?
25 As He also says in Hosea, a“I will call those who were not My people My people, and her who was not beloved beloved;
26 And it shall be that in the place where it was said to them, aYou are not My people, there shall they be called sons of the living God.”
27 And Isaiah cries concerning Israel, a“Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is the remnant that shall be saved;
28 For the Lord will execute His word upon the earth, accomplishing it and cutting it short.”
29 And as Isaiah has previously said, a“Unless the Lord of hosts had left us a seed, we would have become like bSodom and been made like Gomorrah.”
30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have laid hold of righteousness, but a righteousness which is out of faith;
31 But aIsrael, pursuing a law of righteousness, did not attain to that law.
32 Why? Because they pursued it not aout of faith, but as it were out of works. They stumbled at the bstone of stumbling,
33 As it is written, a“Behold, I lay in Zion a stone of stumbling, a rock of offense, and he who believes on Him shall not be put to shame.”
CHAPTER 10
1 Brothers, the good pleasure of my heart and my petition to God for them is for their asalvation.
2 For I bear them witness that they have a zeal for God, but not according to full knowledge;
3 For because they were ignorant of God’s righteousness and sought to 1establish their own righteousness, they were not subject to the arighteousness of God.
4 For Christ is the 1aend of the law unto righteousness to everyone who believes.
5 For Moses writes concerning the righteousness which is out of the law: a“The man who does them shall live by them.”
6 But the righteousness which is out of faith speaks in this way, a“Do not say in your heart, Who will ascend into bheaven?” that is, to 1bring Christ down;
7 Or, “Who will descend into the 1abyss?” that is, to 2bring Christ up from the dead.
8 But what does it say? 1a“The word is near you, in your mouth and in your heart,” that is, the word of the faith which we proclaim,
9 That if you aconfess with your 1mouth bJesus as Lord and believe in your heart that God has 2craised Him from the dead, you will be saved;
10 For 1with the heart there is believing 2unto righteousness, and 1with the mouth there is confession 2unto salvation.
11 For the Scripture says, a“Everyone who believes on Him shall not be put to shame.”
12 For there is no distinction between aJew and Greek, for the same Lord is bLord of all and 1crich to all who dcall upon Him;
13 For a“whoever 1calls upon the name of the Lord shall be 2bsaved.”