9. For this is what the promise said, About this time [next year] will I return and Sarah shall have a son. [Gen. 18:10.]
10. And not only that, but this too: Rebecca conceived [two sons under exactly the same circumstances] by our forefather Isaac,
11. And the children were yet unborn and had so far done nothing either good or evil. Even so, in order further to carry out God's purpose of selection (election, choice), which depends not on works or what men can do, but on Him Who calls [them],
12. It was said to her that the elder [son] should serve the younger [son]. [Gen. 25:21-23.]
13. As it is written, Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated (held in relative disregard in comparison with My feeling for Jacob). [Mal. 1:2, 3.]
14. What shall we conclude then? Is there injustice upon God's part? Certainly not!
15. For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion (pity) on whom I will have compassion. [Exod. 33:19.]
16. So then [God's gift] is not a question of human will and human effort, but of God's mercy. [It depends not on one's own willingness nor on his strenuous exertion as in running a race, but on God's having mercy on him.]