7. nor are they all children of Abraham because they are his descendants; but “It is through Isaac that descendants shall bear your name.”
8. This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but the children of the promise are counted as descendants.
9. For this is the wording of the promise, “About this time I shall return and Sarah will have a son.”
10. And not only that, but also when Rebecca had conceived children by one husband, our father Isaac—
11. before they had yet been born or had done anything, good or bad, in order that God’s elective plan might continue,
12. not by works but by his call—she was told, “The older shall serve the younger.”
13. As it is written:“I loved Jacobbut hated Esau.”
14. What then are we to say? Is there injustice on the part of God? Of course not!
15. For he says to Moses:“I will show mercy to whom I will,I will take pity on whom I will.”
16. So it depends not upon a person’s will or exertion, but upon God, who shows mercy.
17. For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “This is why I have raised you up, to show my power through you that my name may be proclaimed throughout the earth.”
18. Consequently, he has mercy upon whom he wills, and he hardens whom he wills.
19. You will say to me then, “Why (then) does he still find fault? For who can oppose his will?”
20. But who indeed are you, a human being, to talk back to God? Will what is made say to its maker, “Why have you created me so?”
21. Or does not the potter have a right over the clay, to make out of the same lump one vessel for a noble purpose and another for an ignoble one?
22. What if God, wishing to show his wrath and make known his power, has endured with much patience the vessels of wrath made for destruction?