1. Therefore, I say: Has God driven away his people? Let it not be so! For I, too, am an Israelite of the offspring of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
2. God has not driven away his people, whom he foreknew. And do you not know what Scripture says in Elijah, how he calls upon God against Israel?
3. "Lord, they have slain your Prophets. They have overturned your altars. And I alone remain, and they are seeking my life."
4. But what is the Divine response to him? "I have retained for myself seven thousand men, who have not bent their knees before Baal."
5. Therefore, in the same way, again in this time, there is a remnant that has been saved in accord with the choice of grace.
6. And if it is by grace, then it is not now by works; otherwise grace is no longer free.
7. What is next? What Israel was seeking, he has not obtained. But the elect have obtained it. And truly, these others have been blinded,
8. just as it was written: "God has given them a spirit of reluctance: eyes that do not perceive, and ears that do not hear, even until this very day."
9. And David says: "Let their table become like a snare, and a deception, and a scandal, and a retribution for them.
10. Let their eyes be obscured, so that they may not see, and so that they may bow down their backs always."
11. Therefore, I say: Have they stumbled in such a way that they should fall? Let it not be so! Instead, by their offense, salvation is with the Gentiles, so that they may be a rival to them.
12. Now if their offense is the riches of the world, and if their diminution is the riches of the Gentiles, how much more is their fullness?
13. For I say to you Gentiles: Certainly, as long as I am an Apostle to the Gentiles, I will honor my ministry,