3. “Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me” ?
4. And what was God’s answer to him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
5. So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
6. And if by grace, then it cannot be based on works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
7. What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened,
8. as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see and ears that could not hear, to this very day.”
9. And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
10. May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.”
11. Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.
12. But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their full inclusion bring!
13. I am talking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry
14. in the hope that I may somehow arouse my own people to envy and save some of them.
15. For if their rejection brought reconciliation to the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
16. If the part of the dough offered as firstfruits is holy, then the whole batch is holy; if the root is holy, so are the branches.