Romans 9:27-29

9:27 And Isaiah cries out on behalf of Israel, “Though the number of the children ¹  of Israel are as the sand of the sea, only the remnant will be saved, 9:28 for the Lord will execute his sentence on the earth completely and quickly.” ²  9:29 Just ³  as Isaiah predicted,

“If the Lord of armies ⁴  had not left us descendants,

we would have become like Sodom,

and we would have resembled Gomorrah.” ⁵ 

Romans 9:32

9:32 Why not? Because they pursued ⁶  it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works. ⁷  They stumbled over the stumbling stone, ⁸ 

¹ tn Grk “sons.”

² tc In light of the interpretive difficulty of this verse, a longer reading seems to have been added to clarify the meaning. The addition, in the middle of the sentence, makes the whole verse read as follows: “For he will execute his sentence completely and quickly in righteousness, because the Lord will do it quickly on the earth.” The shorter reading is found largely in Alexandrian mss (Ì⁴⁶ א* A B 6 1506 1739 1881 pc co), while the longer reading is found principally in Western and Byzantine mss (א² D F G Ψ 33 Ï lat). The longer reading follows Isa 10:22-23 (LXX) verbatim, while Paul in the previous verse quoted the LXX loosely. This suggests the addition was made by a copyist trying to make sense out of a difficult passage rather than by the author himself.

³ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

⁴ tn Traditionally, “Lord of hosts”; Grk “Lord Sabaoth,” which means “Lord of the [heavenly] armies,” sometimes translated more generally as “Lord Almighty.”

⁵ sn A quotation from Isa 1:9.

⁶ tn Grk “Why? Because not by faith but as though by works.” The verb (“they pursued [it]”) is to be supplied from the preceding verse for the sake of English style; yet a certain literary power is seen in Paul’s laconic style.

⁷ tc Most mss, especially the later ones (א² D Ψ 33 Ï sy), read νόμου (nomou, “of the law”) here, echoing Paul’s usage in Rom 3:20, 28 and elsewhere. The qualifying phrase is lacking in א* A B F G 6 629 630 1739 1881 pc lat co. The longer reading thus is weaker externally and internally, being motivated apparently by a need to clarify.

⁸ tn Grk “the stone of stumbling.”