8. This means it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God; rather, the children of promise are counted as descendants.
9. For this is what the promise declared: “About a year from now I will return and Sarah will have a son.”
10. Not only that, but when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our ancestor Isaac –
11. even before they were born or had done anything good or bad (so that God’s purpose in election would stand, not by works but by his calling) –
12. it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger,”
13. just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”
14. What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? Absolutely not!
15. For he says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”