Romans 11 (NMV)
1 So I ask: Has God rejected His people? Absolutely not! For I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God has not rejected His people whom He knew beforehand. Do you not know what the Scripture says in the story about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?
3 "Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they are trying to take my life."
4 But what is God's reply to him? "I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal."
5 In the same way then, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
6 And if it is by grace, then it is no longer by works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.
7 What then? Israel did not obtain what it was seeking, but the chosen ones obtained it, and the rest 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: "Let their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution to them.
10 Let their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and bend their backs forever."
11 So I ask: Did they stumble in order to fall beyond recovery? Absolutely not! On the contrary, by their failure, salvation has come to the Gentiles [non-Jews], to make Israel jealous.
12 Now if their failure brings riches for the world, and their loss brings riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness bring!
13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Since I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I take pride in my ministry,
14 in the hope that I may somehow provoke my own people to jealousy and save some of them.
15 For if their rejection brought the restoration of a right relationship with God to the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?
16 If the first portion of dough is holy, so is the whole lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches.
17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, though a wild olive branch, were grafted in among them and now share in the rich root of the cultivated olive tree,
18 do not boast over those branches. If you do boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you.
19 Then you will say, "Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in."
20 That is true. They were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be reverent.
21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you either.
22 Notice therefore the kindness and severity of God: severity to those who fell, but kindness to you, if you continue in His kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
23 And even they, if they do not remain in unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
24 For if you were cut out of a wild olive tree by nature and, contrary to nature, were grafted into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these, the natural branches, be grafted back into their own olive tree?
25 For I do not want you to be unaware of this mystery, brothers and sisters, so that you will not become arrogant: A partial hardening has come upon Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in.
26 And in this way all Israel will be saved, as it is written: "The Deliverer will come from Zion; He will turn godlessness away from Jacob.
27 And this is My covenant with them, when I take away their sins."
28 As far as the good news is concerned, they are enemies for your sake. But as far as election is concerned, they are beloved for the sake of their ancestors.
29 For God's gifts and His call are irrevocable.
30 Just as you once were disobedient to God but have now received mercy through their disobedience,
31 so they too have now become disobedient, in order that they also may receive mercy as a result of the mercy shown to you.
32 For God has imprisoned all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.
33 Oh, the depth of the riches and wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and how untraceable His ways!
34 "For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?"
35 "Or who has given to God, that He should repay them?"
36 For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen.