21. The potter can make anything he wants to make. He can use the same clay to make one thing for special use and another thing for daily use.
22. It is the same way with God. He wanted to show his anger and to let people see his power. But he patiently stayed with those people he was angry with—people who were made ready to be destroyed.
23. He waited with patience so that he could make known his rich glory to the people who receive his mercy. He has prepared these people to have his glory,
24. and we are those people whom God called. He called us not from the Jews only but also from those who are not Jews.
25. As the Scripture says in Hosea:“I will say, ‘You are my people’to those I had called ‘not my people.’And I will show my loveto those people I did not love.”
26. “They were called,‘You are not my people,’but later they will be called‘children of the living God.’ ”