The Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Romans

 1 I say the truth in Christ, I ^alie not, my ^bconscience also bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost,

 2 That I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart.

 3 ^aFor I could wish that myself were ^baccursed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh:

 4 Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the ^aadoption, and the glory, and the ^bcovenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;

 5 Whose are the fathers, and of whom as concerning the ^aflesh Christ came, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen.

 6 Not as though the word of God ^ahath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of ^bIsrael:

 7 ^aNeither, because they are the seed of Abraham, are they all children: but, In ^bIsaac shall thy seed be called.

 8 That is, They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the ^achildren of God: but the children of the promise are counted for the seed.

 9 For this is the word of promise, At this time will I come, and Sara shall have a ^ason.

 10 And not only this; but when ^aRebecca also had conceived by one, even by our father Isaac;

 11 (For the children being not yet born, neither having done any good or evil, that the purpose of God according to ^aelection might stand, not of works, but of him that calleth;)

 12 It was said unto her, The ^aelder shall serve the younger.

 13 As it is written, Jacob have I ^aloved, but Esau have I hated.

 14 What shall we say then? Is there ^aunrighteousness with God? ^bGod forbid.

 15 For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have ^acompassion on whom I will have compassion.

 16 So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth ^amercy.

 17 For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same ^apurpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth.

 18 Therefore hath he ^amercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he ^bhardeneth.

 19 Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will?

 20 Nay but, O man, who art thou that ^arepliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou ^bmade me thus?

 21 Hath not the ^apotter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour?

 22 What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to ^adestruction:

 23 And that he might make known the ^ariches of his ^bglory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory,

 24 Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?

 25 As he saith also in ^aOsee, I will call them my people, which were not my ^bpeople; and her beloved, which was not beloved.

 26 And it shall come to pass, that in the place where it was said unto them, Ye are not my people; there shall they be called the ^achildren of the living God.

 27 ^aEsaias also crieth concerning Israel, Though the ^bnumber of the children of ^cIsrael be as the sand of the sea, a ^dremnant shall be saved:

 28 For he will finish the work, and cut it short in ^arighteousness: because a short work will the Lord make upon the earth.

 29 And as Esaias said before, Except the Lord of ^aSabaoth had left us a ^bseed, we had been as Sodoma, and been made like unto Gomorrha.

 30 What shall we say then? That the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the ^arighteousness which is of faith.

 31 But ^aIsrael, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness.

 32 ^aWherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law. For they ^bstumbled at that stumblingstone;

 33 As it is written, Behold, I lay in Sion a ^astumblingstone and ^brock of ^coffence: and whosoever believeth on him shall not be ashamed.