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Romans 9:16-33
Common English Bible
Romans 9:16-33
Common English Bible
16 So then, it doesn’t depend on a person’s desire or effort. It depends entirely on God, who shows mercy. 17 Scripture says to Pharaoh, I have put you in this position for this very thing: so I can show my power in you and so that my name can be spread through the entire earth.[a] 18 So then, God has mercy on whomever he wants to, but he makes resistant whomever he wants to.
19 So you are going to say to me, “Then why does he still blame people? Who has ever resisted his will?” 20 You are only a human being. Who do you think you are to talk back to God? Does the clay say to the potter, “Why did you make me like this?”[b] 21 Doesn’t the potter have the power over the clay to make one pot for special purposes and another for garbage from the same lump of clay? 22 What if God very patiently puts up with pots made for wrath that were designed for destruction, because he wanted to show his wrath and to make his power known? 23 What if he did this to make the wealth of his glory known toward pots made for mercy, which he prepared in advance for glory? 24 We are the ones God has called. We don’t come only from the Jews but we also come from the Gentiles. 25 As it says also in Hosea,
I will call “my people” those who aren’t my people,
and the one who isn’t well loved, I will call “loved one.”[c]
26 And in the place where it was said to them,
“You aren’t my people,”
there they will be called “the living God’s children.”[d]
27 But Isaiah cries out for Israel,
Though the number of Israel’s children will be like the sand of the sea,
only a remaining part will be saved,
28 because the Lord does what he says completely and quickly.[e]
29 As Isaiah prophesied,
If the Lord of the heavenly forces had not left descendants for us,
we would have been like Sodom,
and we would have become like Gomorrah.[f]
Israel and God’s righteousness
30 So what are we going to say? Gentiles who weren’t striving for righteousness achieved righteousness, the righteousness that comes from faith. 31 But though Israel was striving for a Law of righteousness, they didn’t arrive. 32 Why? It’s because they didn’t go for it by faith but they went for it as if it could be reached by doing something. They have tripped over a stumbling block. 33 As it is written:
Look! I’m putting a stumbling block in Zion,
which is a rock that offends people.
And the one who has faith in him will not be put to shame.[g]
Romans 9:16-33
New International Version
Romans 9:16-33
New International Version
16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.(A) 17 For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”[a](B) 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.(C)
19 One of you will say to me:(D) “Then why does God still blame us?(E) For who is able to resist his will?”(F) 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?(G) “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,(H) ‘Why did you make me like this?’”[b](I) 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?(J)
22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience(K) the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?(L) 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory(M) known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory(N)— 24 even us, whom he also called,(O) not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?(P) 25 As he says in Hosea:
“I will call them ‘my people’ who are not my people;
and I will call her ‘my loved one’ who is not my loved one,”[c](Q)
26 and,
“In the very place where it was said to them,
‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘children of the living God.’”[d](R)
27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel:
“Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea,(S)
only the remnant will be saved.(T)
28 For the Lord will carry out
his sentence on earth with speed and finality.”[e](U)
29 It is just as Isaiah said previously:
“Unless the Lord Almighty(V)
had left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
we would have been like Gomorrah.”[f](W)
Israel’s Unbelief
30 What then shall we say?(X) That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;(Y) 31 but the people of Israel, who pursued the law as the way of righteousness,(Z) have not attained their goal.(AA) 32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the stumbling stone.(AB) 33 As it is written:
Footnotes
- Romans 9:17 Exodus 9:16
- Romans 9:20 Isaiah 29:16; 45:9
- Romans 9:25 Hosea 2:23
- Romans 9:26 Hosea 1:10
- Romans 9:28 Isaiah 10:22,23 (see Septuagint)
- Romans 9:29 Isaiah 1:9
- Romans 9:33 Isaiah 8:14; 28:16
Common English Bible (CEB)
Copyright © 2011 by Common English Bible
New International Version (NIV) 
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NIV Reverse Interlinear Bible: English to Hebrew and English to Greek. Copyright © 2019 by Zondervan.