Romans 11

11 ¹So I ask: has our Father rejected his people? Never—I too am an Israelite, from Abraham's line, tribe of Benjamin. ²Our Father didn't reject his people, whom he foreknew. Or don't you know what Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with our Father against Israel? ³"Father, they killed your prophets, tore down your altars; I alone remain, and they seek my life."

⁴God's reply: "I've kept 7,000 men for myself who haven't bowed the knee to Baal." ^a a v4 Baal was the chief Canaanite idol, widely worshiped across Israel in Elijah's day.

⁵So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace. ⁶But if by grace, no longer by works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.

⁷What then? Israel didn't get what it sought; the chosen did, but the rest were hardened. ⁸As it is written: "Our Father gave them a dulled spirit, eyes that can't see and ears that can't hear, to this day."

⁹And David says, "Let their table become a snare, a trap, a stumbling block, and payback for them. ¹⁰Let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs forever."

¹¹So I ask: did they stumble to fall completely? By no means! Rather, their failure brought salvation to the Gentiles, to make Israel jealous. ¹²If their sin enriches the world, and their failure enriches the Gentiles, how much more their full inclusion!

¹³I say this to you Gentiles: since I am apostle to the Gentiles, I honor my ministry, ¹⁴in the hope that I may somehow make my own people jealous and save some of them. ¹⁵If their rejection reconciled the world, what will their acceptance bring but life from the dead? ¹⁶If the firstfruit is holy, so is the batch; if the root is holy, so are the branches. ¹⁷If some branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them, sharing the olive tree's rich root, ¹⁸don't boast over the branches. If you do, you don't support the root—the root supports you. ¹⁹Then you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in." ²⁰True. They were broken off for lack of faith; you stand by faith. Don't be proud—fear instead. ²¹For if our Father did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. ²²So see our Father's kindness and severity: severity to the fallen, kindness to you—if you continue in it; otherwise you too will be cut off. ²³And if they don't remain in lack of faith, they too will be grafted in—our Father can graft them in again. ²⁴If you were cut from an olive wild by nature and grafted, against nature, into a cultivated one, how much more will natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree?

All Israel Will Be Saved

²⁵Brothers and sisters, I don't want you unaware of this mystery, so you aren't wise in your own eyes: Israel is partly hardened, until the full number of Gentiles comes in.

²⁶So all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The rescuer will come from Zion and remove evil from Jacob, ^b b v26 The Deliverer who comes from Zion is Jesus — the rescuer our Father promised through Isaiah, who turns his people back from sin. ²⁷and this will be my covenant with them, when I take away their sins."

²⁸In the gospel, they are enemies for your sake; in election, beloved because of the fathers. ²⁹For the gifts and the calling of our Father are irrevocable. ³⁰For just as you once disobeyed our Father, but now have received mercy through their disobedience, ³¹so they too now disobeyed, so that by the mercy shown you, they too may now receive mercy. ³²For our Father has bound everyone over to disobedience, that he may have mercy on all.

³³Oh, the depth of the riches and the wisdom and the knowledge of our Father! How unsearchable are his judgments and how untraceable his ways! ³⁴"For who has known the mind of our Father, or who has been his counselor? ³⁵Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?" ³⁶For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory forever. Amen.