God and His People
1 I am speaking the truth; I belong to Christ and I do not lie. My conscience, ruled by the Holy Spirit, also assures me that I am not lying 2 when I say how great is my sorrow, how endless the pain in my heart 3 for my people, my own flesh and blood! For their sake I could wish that I myself were under God's curse and separated from Christ. 4 They are God's people; he made them his children and revealed his glory to them; he made his covenants with them and gave them the Law; they have the true worship; they have received God's promises; 5 they are descended from the famous Hebrew ancestors; and Christ, as a human being, belongs to their race. May God, who rules over all, be praised forever! Amen.
6 I am not saying that the promise of God has failed; for not all the people of Israel are the people of God. 7 Nor are all of Abraham's descendants the children of God. God said to Abraham, “It is through Isaac that you will have the descendants I promised you.” 8 This means that the children born in the usual way are not the children of God; instead, the children born as a result of God's promise are regarded as the true descendants. 9 For God's promise was made in these words: “At the right time I will come back, and Sarah will have a son.”
10 And this is not all. For Rebecca's two sons had the same father, our ancestor Isaac. 11-12 But in order that the choice of one son might be completely the result of God's own purpose, God said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” He said this before they were born, before they had done anything either good or bad; so God's choice was based on his call, and not on anything they had done. 13 As the scripture says, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.”
14 Shall we say, then, that God is unjust? Not at all. 15 For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on anyone I wish; I will take pity on anyone I wish.” 16 So then, everything depends, not on what we humans want or do, but only on God's mercy. 17 For the scripture says to the king of Egypt, “I made you king in order to use you to show my power and to spread my fame over the whole world.” 18 So then, God has mercy on anyone he wishes, and he makes stubborn anyone he wishes.
God's Anger and Mercy
19 But one of you will say to me, “If this is so, how can God find fault with anyone? Who can resist God's will?” 20 But who are you, my friend, to talk back to God? A clay pot does not ask the man who made it, “Why did you make me like this?” 21 After all, the man who makes the pots has the right to use the clay as he wishes, and to make two pots from the same lump of clay, one for special occasions and the other for ordinary use.
22 And the same is true of what God has done. He wanted to show his anger and to make his power known. But he was very patient in enduring those who were the objects of his anger, who were doomed to destruction. 23 And he also wanted to reveal his abundant glory, which was poured out on us who are the objects of his mercy, those of us whom he has prepared to receive his glory. 24 For we are the people he called, not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles. 25 This is what he says in the book of Hosea:
“The people who were not mine
I will call ‘My People.’
The nation that I did not love
I will call ‘My Beloved.’
26 And in the very place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called the children of the living God.”
27 And Isaiah exclaims about Israel: “Even if the people of Israel are as many as the grains of sand by the sea, yet only a few of them will be saved; 28 for the Lord will quickly settle his full account with the world.” 29 It is as Isaiah had said before, “If the Lord Almighty had not left us some descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”
Israel and the Gospel
30 So we say that the Gentiles, who were not trying to put themselves right with God, were put right with him through faith; 31 while God's people, who were seeking a law that would put them right with God, did not find it. 32 And why not? Because they did not depend on faith but on what they did. And so they stumbled over the “stumbling stone” 33 that the scripture speaks of:
“Look, I place in Zion a stone
that will make people stumble,
a rock that will make them fall.
But whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.”
Bashalugwa be Ndzimu
1 Ndoleba malebeswa muna Kirisiti, anditonyepa. Hana yangu inonditendekela mu Meya yakayengemala, 2 kuti ndina buyendasi bukulu ne kuhwa zogwadza mu moyo wangu kusingapele. 3 Ngobe ndoyemula kuti imi nge kwangu ndingabe ndakalongwa bhiso athubukanyiwa na Kirisiti kuyitila makamu angu, ibabo be ludzi gwangu 4 ibo bathu be Iziraela. Tjabo bakashalugwa kube bana, i gudzo le Ndzimu ne zwidumano ne kupiwa nlayo ne kunamata ne kugadziwabgwe. 5 Bobatategulu babo ludzi gwa Kirisiti panyama, Ndzimu iwo upezhugwi kwa bose, ngaukudziwe nge kusingapele! Ngakujalo.
6 Akutodwa kuti dama le Ndzimu lakakong'wa, ngobe ate kuli kuti bose bana be Iziraela, Baiziraela. 7 Kakale akutodwa kuti bose bana ba Abhurahama, ngobe bali be ludzi gwa Abhurahama. Koga Ndzimu wakati kuna Abhurahama, “Bana babo banowodang'wa nge zina la Isaki.” 8 Nge imwe zila kodwa kuti bana bakazwagwa ngekwe nyama ate ibo bana be Ndzimu, be kugadziwabgwe ndibo bana be Ndzimu bakwako; 9 ngobe kugadzabgwe kwakalebgwa sahwoku, “Nge tjibaka tjakabigwa ndowobuya ngono Sara unowowana nkololo.”
10 Kusi ikoko koga, Rebheka wakati awana bana ne nlume nng'ompela, ibo tate bedu Isaki, 11 nenguba kwakati basathu bakazwagwa kakale basathu bakathama tjimwe tjakanaka kene tjakabipa, kuti ndizo kushalula kwe Ndzimu kudwilile, kusi nge mishingo, kuli nge kushalula kwawo, 12 Rebheka wakadwiwa kukayi, “Hwola inowoshingila ntjetjana.” 13 Sekwa kwakakwagwa, kuyi “Jakubo ndakan'da, koga Esau ndakambenga.”
14 Towotini ngono? Apa tingati Ndzimu autosumikilisa nge ndingisanyo kene? Ndodwa! 15 Ngobe ukati kuna Mushe, “Ndowohwila ngoni iye wandinohwila ngoni, ngono ndowohwila zogwadza iye wandinoda kuhwila zogwadza.” 16 Ndizo akutodwa mu kuda kene mu matatabuko e nthu koga kodwa mu ngoni dze Ndzimu. 17 Hwalo dze Ndzimu dzoti kuna Faro we Egipiti, “Ndakamusila ikoku, kuti ndilakidze simba langu mukuli kakale kuti zina langu lilebgwe mu shango yose.” 18 Ndizo Ndzimu unohwila ngoni iye waunoda kuhwila ngoni, koga unokukutadza moyo iye waunoda kukukutadza.
Ndzimu unolasha kakale unohwila ngoni
19 Mmwe wenyu ungati kundili, “Ngono ini Ndzimu utjatibona nlandu? Ndiani unganyanyayidzana ne kuda kwawo?” 20 Koga uani iwe ungadabidzana ne Ndzimu? Apa tjakabumbiwa tjingati kuna wakatjibumba, “Ini wakandibumba uijali kene?” 21 Apa mbumbi we hali aana simba mu ntapkhwi kubumba hali dze mishingo ipezhugwi ne dze mishingo ipasi nge ntapkhwi iwo zwawo kene?
22 Kungayingwi ha Ndzimu wakabe ushaka kulakidza bushongola gwawo ne kuyita kuti simba lawo lizibgwe, koga ukabe ne moyonlefu kuna bawakagwadzilamoyo, ibo bakabe bakafanila kuloba, 23 kuti ndizo ulakidze fumwa ye gudzo lawo kuna bawakahwila zogwadza ibo bawakagala washalulila gudzo, 24 naswibo takadang'wa, kusi Bajuta koga, ne Bezwitjababo. 25 Sekwa unoleba mu lukwalo gwa Hosea uti,
“Ibabo bakabe basi bathu bangu,
ndowobadana ‘Bathu bangu,’
na iye wandakabe ndisingade,
ndowon'dana ‘N'diwa wangu.’
26 Ne mu bugalo kwakayi ku bali,
‘Ate muli bathu bangu,’
banowodang'wa ‘Bakololo be Ndzimu unotjila.’ ” 27 Isaya unomimila ngekwe Iziraela eti,
“Nenguba bunji gwe Baiziraela gunga nsetje we gungwa,
kowotjidziwa malimbelimbe koga.
28 Ngobe She banowoshinga ngolibilidza
kakale ne buzhalo kusumikilisa kwabo mu shango.”
29 Kakale se kwakalebegwa mbeli ndi Isaya eti,
“She bana masimba ha babe basakatisiyila bana,
tobe takanga Sodoma, tikathamiwa se Gomora.”
Ndebo mbuya yakalingisanabo ne Iziraela
30 Towotini ngono? Towoti Bezwitjaba bakabe basingashake ndulamo, ngono bakayiwana iyo ndulamo nge kugalamoyo, 31 koga Iziraela, iyo yakatemelela mu ndulamo inozha nge nlayo aizotubula kushingikadza nlayo. 32 Nge kutini? Nge kuti abazobe beshaka nge kugalamoyo, koga bakabe beshaka ndulamo nge mishingo. Bakakuthiwa nge bgwe linokutha, 33 sekwa kwakakwagwa kuyi,
“Bonani, ndobiga mu Ziyoni
bgwe linowokutha bathu,
shongwe inowobaliga,
iye unogalamoyo munli
aatowobhatisiwa shoni.”