| 章 |
| 11:1 |
I ask, then, has God rejected his people? By no means! I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, a member of the tribe of Benjamin.
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| 11:2 |
God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew. Do you not know what the scripture says of Eli'jah, how he pleads with God against Israel?
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| 11:3 |
'Lord, they have killed thy prophets, they have demolished thy altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.'
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| 11:4 |
But what is God's reply to him? 'I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Ba'al.'
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| 11:5 |
So too at the present time there is a remnant, chosen by grace.
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| 11:6 |
But if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works;otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
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| 11:7 |
What then? Israel failed to obtain what it sought. The elect obtained it, but the rest were hardened,
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| 11:8 |
as it is written, 'God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that should not see and ears that should not hear, down to this very day.'
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| 11:9 |
And David says, 'Let their table become a snare and a trap, a pitfall and a retribution for them;
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| 11:10 |
let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see, and bend their backs for ever.'
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| 11:11 |
So I ask, have they stumbled so as to fall? By no means! But through their trespass salvation has come to the Gentiles, so as to make Israel jealous.
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| 11:12 |
Now if their trespass means riches for the world, and if their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full inclusion mean!
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| 11:13 |
Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry
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| 11:14 |
in order to make my fellow Jews jealous, and thus save some of them.
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| 11:15 |
For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?
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| 11:16 |
If the dough offered as first fruits is holy, so is the whole lump;and if the root is holy, so are the branches.
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| 11:17 |
But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in their place to share the richness of the olive tree,
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| 11:18 |
do not boast over the branches. If you do boast, remember it is not you that support the root, but the root that supports you.
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| 11:19 |
You will say, 'Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.'
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| 11:20 |
That is true. They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand fast only through faith. So do not become proud, but stand in awe.
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| 11:21 |
For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.
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| 11:22 |
Note then the kindness and the severity of God: severity toward those who have fallen, but God's kindness to you, provided you continue in his kindness;otherwise you too will be cut off.
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| 11:23 |
And even the others, if they do not persist in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God has the power to graft them in again.
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| 11:24 |
For if you have been cut from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree.
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| 11:25 |
Lest you be wise in your own conceits, I want you to understand this mystery, brethren: a hardening has come upon part of Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles come in,
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| 11:26 |
and so all Israel will be saved;as it is written, 'The Deliverer will come from Zion, he will banish ungodliness from Jacob';
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| 11:27 |
'and this will be my covenant with them when I take away their sins.'
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| 11:28 |
As regards the gospel they are enemies of God, for your sake;but as regards election they are beloved for the sake of their forefathers.
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| 11:29 |
For the gifts and the call of God are irrevocable.
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| 11:30 |
Just as you were once disobedient to God but now have received mercy because of their disobedience,
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| 11:31 |
so they have now been disobedient in order that by the mercy shown to you they also may receive mercy.
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| 11:32 |
For God has consigned all men to disobedience, that he may have mercy upon all.
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| 11:33 |
O the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and how inscrutable his ways!
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| 11:34 |
'For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who has been his counselor?'
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| 11:35 |
'Or who has given a gift to him that he might be repaid?'
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| 11:36 |
For from him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory for ever. Amen.
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