11:1 I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
11:2 God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don’t you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah how he appealed to God against Israel:
11:3 Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me? [1 Kings 19:10,14]
11:4 And what was God’s answer to him? I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal. [1 Kings 19:18]
11:5 So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
11:6 And if by grace, then it is no longer by works if it were, grace would no longer be grace. [Some manuscripts: by grace. But if by works, then it is no longer grace if it were, work would no longer be work.]
11:7 What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened,
11:8 as it is written: God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day. [Deut. 29:4 Isaiah 29:10]
11:9 And David says: May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling-block and a retribution for them.
11:10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent for ever. [Psalm 69:22,23]
11:11 Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.
11:12 But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fulness bring!
11:13 I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I make much of my ministry
11:14 in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them.
11:15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
11:16 If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy if the root is holy, so are the branches.
11:17 If some of the branches have been broken off, and you, though a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others and now share in the nourishing sap from the olive root,
11:18 do not boast over those branches. If you do, consider this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.
11:19 You will say then, Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.
11:20 Granted. But they were broken off because of unbelief, and you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.
11:21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, he will not spare you either.
11:22 Consider therefore the kindness and sternness of God: sternness to those who fell, but kindness to you, provided that you continue in his kindness. Otherwise, you also will be cut off.
11:23 And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
11:24 After all, if you were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and contrary to nature were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
11:25 I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you may not be conceited: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
11:26 And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: The deliverer will come from Zion he will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
11:27 And this is [Or will be] my covenant with them when I take away their sins. [Isaiah 59:20,21 27:9 Jer. 31:33,34]
11:28 As far as the gospel is concerned, they are enemies on your account but as far as election is concerned, they are loved on account of the patriarchs,
11:29 for God’s gifts and his call are irrevocable.
11:30 Just as you who were at one time disobedient to God have now received mercy as a result of their disobedience,
11:31 so they too have now become disobedient in order that they too may now [Some manuscripts: do not have now.] receive mercy as a result of God’s mercy to you.
11:32 For God has bound all men over to disobedience so that he may have mercy on them all.
11:33 Oh, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and [Or riches and the wisdom and the] knowledge of God! How unsearchable his judgments, and his paths beyond tracing out!
11:34 Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counsellor? [Isaiah 40:13]
11:35 Who has ever given to God, that God should repay him? [Job 41:11]
11:36 For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen.