## God Has Not Rejected Israel ###### 1 I say then, has God rejected His people? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, a seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. ###### 2 God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in _the passage about_ Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? ###### 3 "Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life." ###### 4 But what does the divine response say to him? "I have left for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal." ###### 5 In this way then, at the present time, a remnant according to _God's_ gracious choice has also come to be. ###### 6 But if it is by grace, it is no longer of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace. ###### 7 What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but the chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; ###### 8 just as it is written, "God gave them a spirit of stupor, Eyes to see not and ears to hear not, Down to this very day." ###### 9 And David says, "Let their table become a snare and a trap, And a stumbling block and a retribution to them. ###### 10 Let their eyes be darkened to see not, And bend their backs forever." ## Gentiles Grafted In ###### 11 I say then, did they stumble so as to fall? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation _has come_ to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. ###### 12 Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness be! ###### 13 But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, ###### 14 if somehow I might move to jealousy my fellow countrymen 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 And if the first piece _of dough_ is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too. ###### 17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became a partaker with them of the rich root of the olive tree, ###### 18 do not boast against the branches. But if you do boast against _them_, _remember that_ it is not you who supports the root, but the root _supports_ you. ###### 19 You will say then, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in." ###### 20 Quite right! They were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be haughty, but fear, ###### 21 for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. ###### 22 Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God's kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. ###### 23 And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. ###### 24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural _branches_ be grafted into their own olive tree? ## All Israel Will Be Saved ###### 25 For I do not want you, brothers, to be uninformed of this mystery--so that you will not be wise in your own estimation--that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; ###### 26 and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written, "The Deliverer will come from Zion, He will remove ungodliness from Jacob." ###### 27 "And this is My covenant with them, When I take away their sins." ###### 28 From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but from the standpoint of _God's_ choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; ###### 29 for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. ###### 30 For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, ###### 31 so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. ###### 32 For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all. ###### 33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! ###### 34 For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? ###### 35 Or who has first given to Him that it might be repaid to him? ###### 36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him _be_ the glory forever. Amen.