The Remnant of Israel
1 I ask, then, hhas God rejected his people? By no means! For iI myself am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham,1 a member of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 jGod has not rejected his people whom he kforeknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he appeals to God against Israel? 3 l“Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have demolished your altars, and I alone am left, and they seek my life.” 4 But what is God’s reply to him? m“I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5 So too at the present time there is na remnant, chosen by grace. 6 oBut if it is by grace, it is no longer on the basis of works; otherwise grace would no longer be grace.
7 What then? pIsrael failed to obtain what it was seeking. The elect obtained it, but the rest qwere hardened, 8 as it is written,
r“God gave them a spirit of stupor,
seyes that would not see
and ears that would not hear,
down to this very day.”
9 And David says,
t“Let their table become a snare and a trap,
a stumbling block and a retribution for them;
10 let their eyes be darkened so that they cannot see,
and bend their backs forever.”
