Romans 11:1-24

Israel’s Rejection not Complete nor Final

11:1 So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin. 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?

11:13 Now I am speaking to you Gentiles. Seeing that I am an apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, 11:14 if somehow I could provoke my people to jealousy and save some of them. 11:15 For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? 11:16 If the first portion ¹¹  of the dough offered is holy, then the whole batch is holy, and if the root is holy, so too are the branches. ¹² 

11:17 Now if some of the branches were broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and participated in ¹³  the richness of the olive root, 11:18 do not boast over the branches. But if you boast, remember that you do not support the root, but the root supports you. 11:19 Then you will say, “The branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.” 11:20 Granted! ¹⁴  They were broken off because of their unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear! 11:21 For if God did not spare the natural branches, perhaps he will not spare you. 11:22 Notice therefore the kindness and harshness of God – harshness toward those who have fallen, but ¹⁵  God’s kindness toward you, provided you continue in his kindness; ¹⁶  otherwise you also will be cut off. 11:23 And even they – if they do not continue in their unbelief – will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 11:24 For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree?

[11:3]  ¹ sn A quotation from 1 Kgs 19:10, 14.

[11:4]  ² tn Grk “the revelation,” “the oracle.”

[11:4]  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.

[11:4]  ⁴ sn A quotation from 1 Kgs 19:18.

[11:7]  ⁵ tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.

[11:8]  ⁶ sn A quotation from Deut 29:4; Isa 29:10.

[11:10]  ⁷ sn A quotation from Ps 69:22-23.

[11:11]  ⁸ tn Grk “that they might fall.”

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

[11:12]  ¹⁰ tn Or “full inclusion”; Grk “their fullness.”

[11:16]  ¹¹ tn Grk “firstfruits,” a term for the first part of something that has been set aside and offered to God before the remainder can be used.

[11:16]  ¹² sn Most interpreters see Paul as making use of a long-standing metaphor of the olive tree (the root…the branches) as a symbol for Israel. See, in this regard, Jer 11:16, 19. A. T. Hanson, Studies in Paul’s Technique and Theology, 121-24, cites rabbinic use of the figure of the olive tree, and goes so far as to argue that Rom 11:17-24 is a midrash on Jer 11:16-19.

[11:17]  ¹³ tn Grk “became a participant of.”

[11:20]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “well!”, an adverb used to affirm a statement. It means “very well,” “you are correct.”

[11:22]  ¹⁵ tn Greek emphasizes the contrast between these two clauses more than can be easily expressed in English.

[11:22]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “if you continue in (the) kindness.”