Chapter 11

  I ask then, Did God reject his people? Certainly not! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.  

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  God didn't reject his people, which he foreknew. Or don't you know what the scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel:  

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  'Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have broken down your altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.'  

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  But how does God answer him? 'I have reserved for myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal.'  

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  Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.  

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  And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.  

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  What then? That which Israel seeks for, that he didn't obtain, but the election obtained it, and the rest were hardened.  

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  According as it is written, 'God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.'  

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  David says, 'Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, A stumbling block, and a retribution to them.  

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  Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see. Bow down their back always.'  

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  I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? Certainly not! But by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy.  

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  Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness?  

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  For I speak to you who are Gentiles. Since then as I am an apostle to Gentiles, I glorify my ministry;  

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  if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and may save some of them.  

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  For if the rejection of them [is] the reconciling of the world, what would the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?  

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  If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches.  

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  But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and became partaker with them of the root of the richness of the olive tree;  

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  don't boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who bear the root, but the root you.  

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  You will say then, 'Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.'  

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  True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don't be conceited, but fear;  

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  for if God didn't spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you.  

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  See then the goodness and severity of God. Toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off.  

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  They also, if they don't continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.  

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  For if you were cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more will these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?  

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  For I don't desire, brothers, to have you ignorant of this mystery, so that you won't be wise in your own conceits, that a hardening in part has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles have come in,  

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  and so all Israel will be saved. Even as it is written, 'There will come out of Zion the Deliverer, And he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob.  

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  This is my covenant to them, When I will take away their sins.'  

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  Concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sake. But concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sake.  

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  For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable.  

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  For as you in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience,  

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  even so these also have now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they may also obtain mercy.  

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  For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all.  

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  Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!  

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  'For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?'  

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  'Or who has first given to him, And it will be repaid to him again?'  

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  For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen.  

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