Romans 9:7

9:7 nor are all the children Abraham’s true descendants; rather “through Isaac will your descendants be counted.” ¹ 

Romans 4:18

4:18 Against hope Abraham ²  believed ³  in hope with the result that he became the father of many nations ⁴  according to the pronouncement, ⁵  “so will your descendants be.” ⁶ 

Romans 9:8

9:8 This means ⁷  it is not the children of the flesh ⁸  who are the children of God; rather, the children of promise are counted as descendants.

Romans 9:29

9:29 Just ⁹  as Isaiah predicted,

“If the Lord of armies ¹⁰  had not left us descendants,

we would have become like Sodom,

and we would have resembled Gomorrah.” ¹¹ 

¹ tn Grk “be called.” The emphasis here is upon God’s divine sovereignty in choosing Isaac as the child through whom Abraham’s lineage would be counted as opposed to Ishmael.

² tn Grk “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

³ tn Grk “who against hope believed,” referring to Abraham. The relative pronoun was converted to a personal pronoun and, because of the length and complexity of the Greek sentence, a new sentence was started here in the translation.

⁴ sn A quotation from Gen 17:5.

⁵ tn Grk “according to that which had been spoken.”

⁶ sn A quotation from Gen 15:5.

³ tn Grk “That is,” or “That is to say.”

⁴ tn Because it forms the counterpoint to “the children of promise” the expression “children of the flesh” has been retained in the translation.

⁴ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

⁵ tn Traditionally, “Lord of hosts”; Grk “Lord Sabaoth,” which means “Lord of the [heavenly] armies,” sometimes translated more generally as “Lord Almighty.”

⁶ sn A quotation from Isa 1:9.