Romans 11:2-12

11:2 God has not rejected his people whom he foreknew! Do you not know what the scripture says about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel? 11:3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars; I alone am left and they are seeking my life!” ¹  11:4 But what was the divine response ²  to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand people ³  who have not bent the knee to Baal.” ⁴ 

11:5 So in the same way at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace. 11:6 And if it is by grace, it is no longer by works, otherwise grace would no longer be grace. 11:7 What then? Israel failed to obtain what it was diligently seeking, but the elect obtained it. The ⁵  rest were hardened, 11:8 as it is written,

“God gave them a spirit of stupor,

eyes that would not see and ears that would not hear,

to this very day.” ⁶ 

11:9 And David says,

“Let their table become a snare and trap,

a stumbling block and a retribution for them;

11:10 let their eyes be darkened so that they may not see,

and make their backs bend continually.” ⁷ 

11:11 I ask then, they did not stumble into an irrevocable fall, ⁸  did they? Absolutely not! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel ⁹  jealous. 11:12 Now if their transgression means riches for the world and their defeat means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their full restoration ¹⁰  bring?

¹ sn A quotation from 1 Kgs 19:10, 14.

² tn Grk “the revelation,” “the oracle.”

³ tn The Greek term here is ἀνήρ (anhr), which only exceptionally is used in a generic sense of both males and females. In this context, it appears to be a generic usage (“people”) since when Paul speaks of a remnant of faithful Israelites (“the elect,” v. 7), he is not referring to males only. It can also be argued, however, that it refers only to adult males here (“men”), perhaps as representative of all the faithful left in Israel.

⁴ sn A quotation from 1 Kgs 19:18.

⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

⁶ sn A quotation from Deut 29:4; Isa 29:10.

⁷ sn A quotation from Ps 69:22-23.

⁸ tn Grk “that they might fall.”

⁹ tn Grk “them”; the referent (Israel, cf. 11:7) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

¹⁰ tn Or “full inclusion”; Grk “their fullness.”