1. So I ask: Did God throw out his people? No! I myself am an Israelite. I am from the family of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
2. God chose the Israelites to be his people before they were born. And God did not leave his people. Surely you know what the Scripture says about Elijah, how he prayed to God against the people of Israel. Elijah said,
3. “They have killed your prophets, and they have destroyed your altars. I am the only prophet left. And now they are trying to kill me, too.”
4. But what answer did God give Elijah? He said, “But I have left 7,000 people in Israel. Those 7,000 have never bowed down before Baal.”
5. It is the same now. There are a few people that God has chosen by his grace.
6. And if God chose them by grace, then it is not for the things they have done. If they could be made God’s people by what they did, then God’s gift of grace would not really be a gift.
7. So this is what has happened: The people of Israel tried to be right with God. But they did not succeed. But the ones God chose did become right with him. The others became hard and refused to listen to God.
8. As it is written in the Scriptures:“God gave the people a dull mind so they could not understand.” Isaiah 29:10“God closed their eyes so they could not see,and God closed their ears so they could not hear.This continues until today.” Deuteronomy 29:4
9. And David says:“Let their own feasts trap them and cause their ruin.Let their feasts cause them to sin and be paid back.
10. Let their eyes be closed so they cannot see.Let their backs be forever weak from troubles.” Psalm 69:22-23
11. So I ask: When the Jews fell, did that fall destroy them? No! But their failure brought salvation to the non-Jews. This took place to cause the Jews to be jealous.
12. The Jews’ failure brought rich blessings for the world. And what the Jews lost brought rich blessings for the non-Jewish people. So surely the world will get much richer blessings when enough Jews become the kind of people God wants.
13. Now I am speaking to you who are not Jews. I am an apostle to the non-Jews. So while I have that work, I will do the best I can.
14. I hope I can make my own people jealous. That way, maybe I can help some of them to be saved.
15. God turned away from the Jews. When that happened, God became friends with the other people in the world. So when God accepts the Jews, then surely that will bring to them life after death.
16. If the first piece of bread is offered to God, then the whole loaf is made holy. If the roots of a tree are holy, then the tree’s branches are holy too.