10. Don't forget what happened to the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah.
11-12. Even before they were born or had done anything good or bad, the Lord told Rebekah that her elder son would serve the younger one. The Lord said this to show that he makes his own choices and that it wasn't because of anything either of them had done.
13. That's why the Scriptures say that the Lord liked Jacob more than Esau.
14. Are we saying that God is unfair? Certainly not!
15. The Lord told Moses that he has pity and mercy on anyone he wants to.
16. Everything then depends on God's mercy and not on what people want or do.
17. In the Scriptures the Lord says to Pharaoh of Egypt, “I let you become king, so that I could show you my power and be praised by all people on earth.”
18. Everything depends on what God decides to do, and he can either have pity on people or make them stubborn.
19. Someone may ask, “How can God blame us, if he makes us behave in the way he wants us to?”
20. But, my friend, I ask, “Who do you think you are to question God? Does the clay have the right to ask the potter why he shaped it the way he did?
21. Doesn't a potter have the right to make a fancy bowl and a plain bowl out of the same lump of clay?”