Romans 9
1 I am speaking the truth in connection with Christ; I am not lying! My consciousness, with the Sacred Life-Breath, confirms for me 2 that I have immense grief and unending anguish in my heart. 3 I have begun to wish that I myself would be designated for destructiona—away from Christ—for the sake of my Family,b my fellow members of the same bodily lineage: 4 whoever are Israelites. Adoption as heirs and praise and covenants and adoption of Torah and representative service and the promises are theirs. 5 Theirs are the ancestors and the Christ who bodily came from them and the God over everything who is spoken well ofc throughout the ages. Amen.
6 It is not as if what God has spokend has fallen flat. You see, not all who are descended from Israel are Israel, 7 and not all children are Abraham’s seed; instead, “The seed will be called yours in connection with Isaac.”e 8 That is, these children of God are not bodily children, but rather, it is the children of the promise who are counted as “seed.” 9 You see, this is what was spoken as a promise: “At this time next year, I will come, and Sarah will have a son.”f 10 Not only that, but Rebekah also shared a bed with one man,g Isaac our ancestor. 11 While they had not yet been given birth or practiced anything, either beneficial or nasty, (so it stays based on God’s intentional choosing, 12 not because of actions but because of the calling), it was said to her, “the older will be enslaved toh the younger,”i 13 just as it is written, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.”j
14 Then what should we say? Isn’t injustice associated with God? It’s impossible! 15 He says to Moses, “I will show loving faithfulness to whomever I show loving faithfulness, and I will have compassion for whomever I have compassion.”k 16 So then, it is not by wanting it or striving for it; instead, it is by God having compassion. 17 You see, the scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very thing, I provokedl you, so I could demonstrate my power with you, and so my reputationm would be spread throughout the whole earth.”n 18 So then, he has compassion for whom he wants, and he provokes hardnesso from whom he wants.
19 Then, you’ll say to me, “Then, why does he still criticize? Who has withstood against his intention?” 20 But to the contrary, who are you, person, who are responding againstp God? 21 Doesn’t the potter have the right to make from the same lump of clay both an expensive container and one that is not expensive? 22 What if God, who wants to demonstrate anger and to make his power known, has endured with a lot of patience containers full of angerq that have been prepared for destruction, 23 and what if he has done it so that he could make known the abundance of is renowned praiseworthiness to containers full of loving faithfulnessr that he prepared in advance for praise? 24 That is to say, to us whom he called not only from among Jews but also from among other people groups, 25 as he specifically says in Hosea,
I will call ‘my people’ those who have not been my people
and ‘beloved’ she who has not been beloved.s
26 And in this place where it was said to them, “You are not my people,’
This is where they will be called children of the God-Who-Is-Alive.t
27 And Isaiah cried out for Israel’s sake, “Though the number of the children of Israel is as the sand of the sea, those who are leftu will be liberated, 28 for the Lord will do on the earth what he spoke completely and quickly.”v 29 And just as Isaiah predicted, “If the Lord-of-Multitudesw had not left a seed for us, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have resembled Gomorrah.”x
30 What should we say, then? That other people groups that did not pursue justness attained justness, but justness that is because of faithfulness; 31 however, Israel who is pursuing a torah of justness did not attain Torah. 32 Why? Because it was not by faithfulness but how they pursued it was by means of actions.y They tripped on the stone that trips people,z 33 just as it is written, “Look, I am placing in Zion a stone that trips people,aa and a rock that makes people fall down,bb and whoever is faithfulcc because ofdd it will not be shamed.”ee
FOOTNOTES:
a Anathema is traditionally translated as ‘accursed.’ Here it is translated as ‘designated for destruction.’ It literally means ‘placed upon.’ It is the word used in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible (the Septuagint) to translate the Hebrew word Herem, which means ‘a thing devoted to God,’ including the animals that were to be sacrificed on the altar—what was to be ‘placed upon’ the altar. Robert Alter translates Leviticus 27:28-29 this way, with ‘anything proscribed’ being used to translate herem: “But anything proscribed, that a man may proscribe for the LORD, of anything he has, whether of humans or animals or of the field of his holding, shall not be sold and shall not be redeemed. Anything proscribed is holy of holies to the LORD. No human who has been proscribed may be ransomed. He is doomed to die.” Alter (2019) also writes in the footnotes for those verses: “The Hebrew term is herem, which in martial contexts means the ‘ban’ of total destruction to which a conquered population and its possessions are subjected” (1:464). Two connections also come to mind from Matthew. While the wording is not shared between this section and Matthew 23, the concepts seem reminiscent of each other. Matthew 23 is a list of ‘woes’ or ‘you’d better watch out’ against the Pharisees who are accused of being pretenders, misleading people and causing them harm by teaching them a competing message with Jesus. In Matthew 23:15, they are compared to ‘a child of the Valley of Hinnom,’ which is where children were placed on altars to Molech and burned alive. Other connections in that chapter seem relevant as well. The second connection that seems relevant is Matthew 12:31 and the deviation of speaking with contempt against the Life-breath. It seems that leading people away from the triumphant message of Christ is connected with a harsh judgment unlike any other form of deviating from the Path of Christ.
b Traditionally, ‘my brothers.’ The NET renders it ‘my people.’ The word means most literally, ‘brothers’ or ‘siblings’ but can mean family members of any kind and even members of the same nationality or people group.
c Or ‘praised.’ Traditionally, ‘blessed.’
d Or ‘the conversation of God’ or ‘message of God’ or ‘word of God.’
e Quotation of Genesis 21:12
f Citation of Genesis 18:10-14
g Or literally, ‘had a bed from one man’ referring to ‘marriage’ as represented by the bed.
h Or ‘serve’
i Quotation of Genesis 25:23
j Quotation of Malachi 1:2-3
k Quotation of Exodus 33:19
l Traditionally, ‘raised up.’ While it carries a connection to the root word for to ‘raise,’ it is not in the sense of appointing, recruiting, preparing, or cultivating. It means to ‘rouse’ someone or to ‘get a rise out of someone.’
m Literally, ‘name’
n Quotation of Exodus 9:16
o Or ‘stubbornness’ or ‘unyieldingness’ or ‘cruelty’ or ‘unfeelingness’ or ‘heartlessness’ or ‘compassionlessness’
p Or ‘responding critically about God.’ Both the verb (participle) here and the dative case of ‘God’ which I am taking as a Dative of Interest/Disadvantage, indicate that this is a response against God, not as is often the choice of other renderings as ‘talking back to God’ as in being disrespectful and acting out of line for one’s subordinate position.
q Or ‘containers of anger’
r Traditionally, ‘mercy.’ This Greek word is used to translate the Hebrew word hesed in the Greek translation of the Hebrew Bible, the Septuagint. It does not convey the idea of withholding wrath, as ‘mercy’ is often used to mean. It means something along the lines of ‘loyal love,’ ‘covenant faithfulness,’ ‘lovingkindness,’ or ‘committed love/kindness.’ It carries a commitment to pursue good for others based in care. Empathy is related, but only part of what’s in view. Compassion is related but only part of what’s in view. Help is related but only part of what’s in view.
s Quotation of Hosea 2:23
t Quotation of Hosea 1:10
u Or ‘those who are left over’ or ‘those who are left behind’ or ‘the remnant’
v Reference to Isaiah 10:22-23
w Or ‘hosts’ or ‘legions’ or ‘armies’
x Quotation of Isaiah 1:9
y Or ‘actions’ or ‘efforts’ or ‘works’
z Literally, ‘stone of tripping’
aa Literally, ‘stone of tripping’
bb Or ‘trip’ but a different Greek word
cc Or ‘trusts’
dd This is a different grammatical structure than most other places that have pistos. Typically, it either has no preposition following it or it has the preposition eis following it. This instance has the preposition epi following it. When epi is followed by an object in the dative case as it is here, it means ‘because of’ or ‘on the basis of.’ It makes it so that ‘it’ (referring to the stone/rock) is the cause of the pistos (‘faithfulness’ or ‘trust’ or ‘commitment’) not that the faithfulness/trust/commitment is directed toward the rock.
ee Reference to Isaiah 8:14 and 28:16