Romans 11

So I ask: has God pushed his own people away? Certainly not. I myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

1I say then, Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite, of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

Note"God forbid" is the King James way of rendering a short Greek phrase, *mē genoito*, that literally means "may it never be." It is an emphatic denial, roughly "absolutely not"; the word God is not in the Greek. Paul uses it ten times in Romans, always to reject a conclusion he has just put in a questioner's mouth. The three things Paul says about himself are the standard credentials of unmixed Jewish descent: membership in the nation, descent from its founding ancestor, and a named tribe. Benjamin was one of the smallest tribes, but it stayed with Judah when the kingdom split and so kept a continuous identity, which made naming it a strong claim rather than a modest one.

2God has not pushed away his people, the ones he knew and chose long beforehand. Don't you know what the Scripture says about Elijah, and how he brought a complaint to God against Israel? He said:

2God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,

Note"Wot ye not" is Elizabethan English for "do you not know." "Elias" is the Greek spelling of the Hebrew name Elijah; the King James keeps the Greek form because it is translating a Greek text. "Maketh intercession" normally means pleading on someone's behalf, and the oddity is deliberate: Paul uses the pleading word and then turns it around with "against Israel." Elijah is going to God as a petitioner, but the petition is a complaint about his own people. "Foreknew" translates a Greek word meaning "knew beforehand." In Hebrew usage, to know a person can carry the stronger sense of acknowledging or choosing that person, and readers have taken the word both ways here.

3"Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars. I am the only one left, and now they are trying to kill me."

3Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and digged down thine altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.

NoteElijah's words are quoted from 1 Kings 19:10 and 19:14. The setting is the reign of Ahab and Jezebel, who had promoted the worship of Baal and had prophets of Israel's God hunted down and killed. "Digged down thine altars" refers to altars built to Israel's own God at local sites around the northern kingdom, torn down as part of that campaign.

4But what was God's answer to him? "I have kept seven thousand men for myself, men who have not knelt down to the image of Baal."

4But what saith the answer of God unto him? I have reserved to myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to the image of Baal.

Note"The answer of God" translates a Greek noun used for a divine oracle, a formal response given to someone who has inquired. Baal was a Canaanite storm and fertility god whose name simply means "lord" or "master." His worship had heavy official backing in Israel under Ahab. Bowing or kneeling was the standard bodily gesture of submission to a god or a king, so "have not bowed the knee" means have not given him allegiance. The King James "the image of Baal" reflects a peculiarity of the Greek, which attaches a feminine word for "the" to the masculine name. This most likely echoes a Jewish habit of not pronouncing the name and saying a word meaning "the shameful thing" instead.

5In the same way, right now there is also a group left over, chosen by grace, which is God's free kindness.

5Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

Note"Remnant" is a technical term of the Hebrew prophets: the small group left alive or left faithful after a disaster, out of which the nation continues. Isaiah in particular builds on it, and Paul is picking up that vocabulary rather than inventing a word. "Election" here means selection or choosing, the act of picking out, not a vote.

6And if it is by grace, then it is not by works that people earn. If it were, grace would no longer be grace. But if it is by works, then it is not grace; if it were, work would no longer be work.

6And if by grace, then is it no more of works: otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then is it no more grace: otherwise work is no more work.

Note"Works" in Paul's argument means things done to satisfy a requirement, the sort of action that earns payment. The whole verse runs on that commercial contrast: a gift and a wage cannot be the same transaction, since a gift stops being a gift the moment it is owed.

7So what follows? Israel did not get what it was looking for. The ones God chose did get it, and the rest were made hard and unable to see.

7What then? Israel hath not obtained that which he seeketh for; but the election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.

Note"Blinded" is misleading in modern English. The Greek verb means to harden, to become callused or petrified, the way skin thickens or a joint stiffens; it is about becoming insensible rather than losing eyesight. Some early copies of the text have a different verb meaning to blind, which is probably where the King James reading comes from.

8This matches what is written: God gave them a spirit of heavy sleep, eyes that do not see and ears that do not hear. That is still true today.

8(According as it is written, God hath given them the spirit of slumber, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear;) unto this day.

Note"According as it is written" is the standard formula for introducing a quotation of Scripture. The quotation combines Deuteronomy 29:4 with Isaiah 29:10. "Spirit of slumber" renders a Greek word for stupor or numbness, the dazed state of someone drugged or stunned, not ordinary sleepiness.

9And David says: "Let their table become a snare and a trap, something they trip over and a payback for them."

9And David saith, Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumblingblock, and a recompence unto them:

NoteQuoted from Psalm 69:22 and 23, in its Greek version. Psalm 69 is a prayer of a man under attack who asks God to turn his enemies' security against them. "Their table" is the table a meal is served on, the image of safety, plenty and hospitality. "Snare" and "trap" are bird-catching equipment: a noose and a baited spring-net thrown over feeding birds. The point of the image is that the very spot where they eat becomes the spot where they are caught. "Recompence" is the older spelling of recompense and means repayment, giving back what is due.

10"Let their eyes go dark so they cannot see, and let their backs be bent down forever."

10Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see, and bow down their back alway.

Note"Alway" is simply the older form of always. A permanently bent back is the posture of someone under a heavy load: the image is of people broken down by carrying burdens, as slaves or forced laborers did.

11So I ask: did they trip in a way that made them fall for good? Certainly not. Instead, because they fell, rescue has come to the Gentiles, the non-Jewish nations, in order to make Israel jealous.

11I say then, Have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid: but rather through their fall salvation is come unto the Gentiles, for to provoke them to jealousy.

NoteGentiles translates a word meaning the nations, that is, everyone who is not Jewish. The idea of God provoking Israel to jealousy by turning to other nations comes from Deuteronomy 32:21, part of the song of Moses, and Paul quotes that verse directly in chapter 10.

12Now if their falling brings riches to the world, and their loss brings riches to the Gentiles, think how much more their full number will bring.

12Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness?

Note"Fulness" is an older spelling of fullness. The Greek word can mean the full number of people, the completion of something, or the full measure that fills a container, and Paul does not say which he means here. The same word returns in verse 25 about the Gentiles.

13I am speaking to you Gentiles. Since I am the apostle sent to the Gentiles, I make much of the work I have been given,

13For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:

Note"Apostle" is a Greek word meaning one who is sent out, an authorized envoy who carries another person's commission. "I magnify mine office" does not mean Paul is boasting about his own importance. To magnify is to make large, to give full weight and honor to something, and "office" means the assignment or service he has been given rather than a position of rank.

14hoping that I can somehow make my own people jealous and save some of them.

14If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.

Note"Emulation" in 1611 meant jealous rivalry, the sting of seeing someone else have what you want. It did not have the modern sense of admiring imitation. "Them which are my flesh" means his own blood relations, his fellow Jews. The King James follows the Greek, which literally says "my flesh."

15For if their being set aside means the world is brought back to God, what will their being welcomed in mean, except life coming out of death?

15For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

Note"Life from the dead" is left open in the Greek. It may be a figure of speech for an overwhelming reversal, the way we say something brought a place back to life, or it may point to the resurrection of the dead itself. Paul does not settle it.

16If the first piece of the dough is holy, then the whole batch is holy too. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.

16For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

NoteThe image comes from a specific ritual in Numbers 15:20 and 21: when dough was made from the new grain harvest, the first portion of it was set apart and given to God as an offering, and that act made the whole batch fit for ordinary use. "Firstfruit" is that first portion and "the lump" is the rest of the kneaded dough. "Holy" in this sort of language means set apart and belonging to God, a status word rather than a description of moral character.

17Some of the branches were broken off, and you, a shoot from a wild olive tree, were grafted in among them. Now you share with them in the root and the rich sap of the olive tree.

17And if some of the branches be broken off, and thou, being a wild olive tree, wert graffed in among them, and with them partakest of the root and fatness of the olive tree;

Note"Graffed" is the old spelling of grafted. Grafting is a real orchard technique: a cut is made in the trunk or a branch of a living tree, a shoot from another tree is wedged into the cut and bound, and it grows on as part of the host, fed by the host's roots. The olive was the most valuable tree crop in the region and takes decades to come into full bearing, so olive groves were long-term family wealth. The prophets already used a cultivated olive tree as a picture of Israel, as in Jeremiah 11:16 and Hosea 14:6. "Fatness" means richness, the oil-bearing sap drawn up from the root.

18So do not brag over those branches. If you do brag, remember this: you do not hold up the root; the root holds you up.

18Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

Note"Boast not against" means do not crow over, do not treat them as beneath you.

19You will say, then, "Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in."

19Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.

20That is true. They were broken off because they did not believe, and you stand where you are because you do believe. So do not be proud. Be afraid.

20Well; because of unbelief they were broken off, and thou standest by faith. Be not highminded, but fear:

Note"Highminded" in 1611 meant arrogant and puffed up. It is the opposite of the modern sense of high-minded, which suggests noble principles.

21For if God did not spare the natural branches, watch out, or he will not spare you either.

21For if God spared not the natural branches, take heed lest he also spare not thee.

22So look at both the kindness and the hardness of God. He was hard toward those who fell, but kind toward you, as long as you keep living in his kindness. If you do not, you will be cut off too.

22Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

Note"Severity" here translates a Greek word built on the verb to cut off, which is why the sentence ends with being cut off. The King James keeps the two words "goodness" and "severity" as a matched pair, as the Greek does.

23And as for them, if they do not stay in their unbelief, they will be grafted in, because God is able to graft them in again.

23And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be graffed in: for God is able to graff them in again.

24You were cut out of an olive tree that is wild by nature, and you were grafted, against nature, into a good olive tree. How much more easily will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree.

24For if thou wert cut out of the olive tree which is wild by nature, and wert graffed contrary to nature into a good olive tree: how much more shall these, which be the natural branches, be graffed into their own olive tree?

NoteGrafting normally runs the other way around: a cutting from a cultivated tree is grafted onto hardy wild rootstock, because the point is to get good fruit from a tough root. Putting a wild shoot into a cultivated tree is backwards as farming, and Paul says so himself with "contrary to nature."

25Brothers, I do not want you to be in the dark about this secret, or you will start thinking you are wiser than you are. Part of Israel has been made hard, and it will stay that way until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.

25For I would not, brethren, that ye should be ignorant of this mystery, lest ye should be wise in your own conceits; that blindness in part is happened to Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles be come in.

Note"Mystery" does not mean a puzzle or something unexplained. In this kind of Jewish and early Christian writing it means a part of God's plan that was hidden and has now been disclosed, so it is closer to "open secret" than to "riddle." "Wise in your own conceits" uses conceit in its older sense of an opinion or estimate, so the phrase means wise in your own estimation. "Blindness in part" is the same hardening word as in verse 7, and "in part" can mean partly in extent, affecting some but not all, or partly in degree.

26And in this way all Israel will be saved. As it is written: "The Deliverer will come out of Zion; he will turn ungodly living away from Jacob."

26And so all Israel shall be saved: as it is written, There shall come out of Sion the Deliverer, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob:

Note"And so" translates a Greek adverb meaning "in this manner." It describes the way it happens rather than saying what happens next in time. "Sion" is the King James spelling of Zion, following the Greek. Zion was originally the fortified hill in Jerusalem and came to stand for the city as a whole, and for its people. The quotation is from Isaiah 59:20 and 21. "Jacob" is the ancestor whose other name was Israel, and his name is used here for the nation descended from him. "Ungodliness" means irreverence toward God, a life lived with no regard for him.

27"And this is my covenant, my binding agreement, with them: I will take their sins away."

27For this is my covenant unto them, when I shall take away their sins.

NoteThis continues the quotation begun in verse 26, with the closing line drawn from Isaiah 27:9. A covenant is a formally binding agreement, of the kind made between a king and a people, with obligations named on each side.

28As far as the good news goes, they are enemies, and that has worked out for your good. As far as God's choosing goes, they are loved because of their ancestors.

28As concerning the gospel, they are enemies for your sakes: but as touching the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sakes.

Note"As concerning" and "as touching" both mean "with respect to." Paul is setting two angles side by side, not two time periods. "The fathers" means the founding ancestors, Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, to whom the promises were originally made.

29For God does not take back his gifts or his call.

29For the gifts and calling of God are without repentance.

Note"Without repentance" is badly misleading today. Repentance here means a change of mind, and the word is being applied to God, not to people: the gifts and the call are things God will not go back on. The sense is irrevocable.

30You once refused to obey God, but now you have been shown mercy because they refused to obey.

30For as ye in times past have not believed God, yet have now obtained mercy through their unbelief:

Note"Have not believed" translates a Greek word that means refused to be persuaded or disobeyed. Belief and obedience are not separate ideas in this sentence, and the same word carries through verses 31 and 32.

31In the same way, they have now refused to obey, so that through the mercy shown to you they too may now be shown mercy.

31Even so have these also now not believed, that through your mercy they also may obtain mercy.

32For God has shut every person up together in disobedience, so that he can show mercy to every one of them.

32For God hath concluded them all in unbelief, that he might have mercy upon all.

Note"Concluded" is a 1611 legal and physical term meaning shut in, enclosed, locked up together with no way out. It is not the modern sense of reaching a conclusion.

33Oh, how deep are the riches of God's wisdom and knowledge! No one can search out his decisions, and no one can trace the paths he takes.

33O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out!

Note"Unsearchable" means impossible to investigate or get to the bottom of. "Past finding out" translates a word about footprints: his ways leave no trail that can be followed. "Judgments" here means decisions or verdicts, the rulings he makes, not condemnations.

34"Who has ever known the mind of the Lord? Or who has ever been his adviser?"

34For who hath known the mind of the Lord? or who hath been his counsellor?

NoteQuoted from Isaiah 40:13 in its Greek version. A "counsellor" is an adviser in a royal court, one of the people a king consults before deciding.

35"Or who has ever given him something first, so that God owes him a payment back?"

35Or who hath first given to him, and it shall be recompensed unto him again?

NoteDrawn from Job 41:11. The logic is that of gift-giving between unequals in the ancient world: a gift placed first creates an obligation, and the receiver is then in the giver's debt.

36For all things come from him, exist through him, and move toward him. Glory belongs to him forever. Amen.

36For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be glory for ever. Amen.

Note"Amen" is a Hebrew word meaning something like "truly" or "let it stand." It was spoken aloud by a gathering to affirm a blessing or a prayer someone else had said, and Paul is using it here to close a burst of praise.