Romans 11:1-18
New English Translation
Israel’s Rejection not Complete nor Final
11 So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew! Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left and they are seeking my life!”[a] 4 But what was the divine response[b] to him? “I have kept for myself 7,000 people[c] who have not bent the knee to Baal.”[d]
5 So in the same way at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 6 And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. 7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was diligently seeking, but the elect obtained it. The[e] rest were hardened, 8 as it is written,
“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear,
to this very day.”[f]
9 And David says,
“Let their table become a snare and trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
10 let their eyes be darkened so that they may not see,
and make their backs bend continually.”[g]
11 I ask then, they did not stumble into an irrevocable fall,[h] did they? Absolutely not! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel[i] jealous. 12 Now if their transgression means riches for the world and their defeat means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full restoration[j] bring?
13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Seeing that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 14 if somehow I could provoke my people to jealousy and save some of them. 15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 16 If the first portion[k] of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy, and if the root is holy, so too are the branches.[l]
17 Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and participated in[m] the richness of the olive root, 18 do not boast over the branches. But if you boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- Romans 11:3 sn A quotation from 1 Kgs 19:10, 14.
- Romans 11:4 tn Grk “the revelation,” “the oracle.”
- Romans 11:4 tn The Greek term here is ἀνήρ (anēr), which only exceptionally is used in a generic sense of both males and females. In this context, it appears to be a generic usage (“people”) since when Paul speaks of a remnant of faithful Israelites (“the elect,” v. 7), he is not referring to males only. It can also be argued, however, that it refers only to adult males here (“men”), perhaps as representative of all the faithful left in Israel.
- Romans 11:4 sn A quotation from 1 Kgs 19:18.
- Romans 11:7 tn Here δέ (de) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
- Romans 11:8 sn A quotation from Deut 29:4; Isa 29:10.
- Romans 11:10 sn A quotation from Ps 69:22-23.
- Romans 11:11 tn Grk “that they might fall.”
- Romans 11:11 tn Grk “them”; the referent (Israel, cf. 11:7) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
- Romans 11:12 tn Or “full inclusion”; Grk “their fullness.”
- Romans 11:16 tn Grk “firstfruits,” a term for the first part of something that has been set aside and offered to God before the remainder can be used.
- Romans 11:16 sn Most interpreters see Paul as making use of a long-standing metaphor of the olive tree (the root…the branches) as a symbol for Israel. See, in this regard, Jer 11:16, 19. A. T. Hanson, Studies in Paul’s Technique and Theology, 121-24, cites rabbinic use of the figure of the olive tree, and goes so far as to argue that Rom 11:17-24 is a midrash on Jer 11:16-19.
- Romans 11:17 tn Grk “became a participant of.”
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