God's Choice of Israel
1 I am a follower of Christ, and the Holy Spirit is a witness to my conscience. So I tell the truth and I am not lying when I say 2 my heart is broken and I am in great sorrow. 3 I would gladly be placed under God's curse and be separated from Christ for the good of my own people. 4 They are the descendants of Israel, and they are also God's chosen people. God showed them his glory. He made agreements with them and gave them his Law. The temple is theirs and so are the promises that God made to them. 5 They have those famous ancestors, who were also the ancestors of the Christ. I pray that God, who rules over all, will be praised forever! Amen.
6 It cannot be said that God broke his promise. After all, not all of the people of Israel are the true people of God. 7-8 In fact, when God made the promise to Abraham, he meant only Abraham's descendants by his son Isaac. God was talking only about Isaac when he promised 9 Sarah, “At this time next year I will return, and you will already have a son.”
10 Don't forget what happened to the twin sons of Isaac and Rebekah. 11-12 Even before they were born or had done anything good or bad, the Lord told Rebekah that her older son would serve the younger one. The Lord said this to show he makes his own choices and it wasn't because of anything either of them had done. 13 That's why the Scriptures say that the Lord liked Jacob more than Esau.
14 Are we saying God is unfair? Certainly not! 15 The Lord told Moses that he has pity and mercy on anyone he wants to. 16 Everything then depends on God's mercy and not on what people want or do. 17 In the Scriptures the Lord says to the king of Egypt, “I let you become king, so that I could show you my power and be praised by all people on earth.” 18 Everything depends on what God decides to do, and he can either have pity on people or make them stubborn.
God's Anger and Mercy
19 Someone may ask, “How can God blame us, if he makes us behave in the way he wants us to?” 20 But, my friend, I ask, “Who do you think you are to question God? Does the clay have the right to ask the potter why he shaped it the way he did? 21 Doesn't a potter have the right to make a fancy bowl and a plain bowl out of the same lump of clay?”
22 God wanted to show his anger and reveal his power against everyone who deserved to be destroyed. But instead, he patiently put up with them. 23 He did this by showing how glorious he is when he has pity on the people he has chosen to share in his glory. 24 Whether Jews or Gentiles, we are those chosen ones, 25 just as the Lord says in the book of Hosea,
“Although they are not
my people,
I will make them my people.
I will treat with love
those nations
that have never been loved.
26 “Once they were told,
‘You are not my people.’
But in that very place
they will be called
children of the living God.”
27 And this is what the prophet Isaiah said about the people of Israel,
“The people of Israel
are as many
as the grains of sand
along the beach.
But only a few who are left
will be saved.
28 The Lord will be quick
and sure to do on earth
what he has warned
he will do.”
29 Isaiah also said,
“If the Lord All-Powerful
had not spared some
of our descendants,
we would have been destroyed
like the cities of Sodom
and Gomorrah.”
Israel and the Good News
30 What does all of this mean? It means that the Gentiles were not trying to be acceptable to God, but they found that he would accept them if they had faith. 31-32 It also means that the people of Israel were not acceptable to God. And why not? It was because they were trying to be acceptable by obeying the Law instead of by having faith in God. The people of Israel fell over the stone that makes people stumble, 33 just as God says in the Scriptures,
“Look! I am placing in Zion
a stone to make people
stumble and fall.
But those who have faith
in that one will never
be disappointed.”
Lu ndi Lidri Onjionji Ndaro be
1 Ma ugu taŋgye ata, ma orivoya Kristo ro ago maga kowe ko. Tavousu maro se imirite Tori Alokado si, ka kpa tazevo edre märi anjioko maga kowe ko, 2 ma ata makye tusu maro orivoya 'desi, luwu okyeako orivoya ya maro ya 3 ta lidri maro rota, 'didiri modo maro rota uti yasi! Tana ta ànyaro ta male ndi andivo maro ri orine latri Lu ro zele lewelewe ro ni Kristo resi. 4 Ànya orivoya lidri Lu ro; nda 'ba ànya te ŋgwà ndaro ro ago ka'da 'desi ndaro te ànyari; nda 'ba tao'baro ndaro te ànya be; ago ozo Ota te ànyari; ànya orivoya liti ŋgye mätu oyero be; ànya usuyi tao'ba Lu rote, 5 ànya efoyi ni zutui likuekye Ebere'ba ro yasi; ago Kristo oso a'do lomvo si voro, ni beti ànyaro yasi. Ka'do inye, Lu se kabe ni ŋga cini miri ono ka'do räṛuräṛu ro äduako. Amen.
6 Ma ko ugu ata makye tao'ba Lu ro tana kyete; tana lidri cini Yisaraele ro ko orivoya lidri Lu ro. 7 Ca zelevoi cini Abarayama ro ko ŋgwà Lu ro. Lu atate Abarayama ri ekye: “Yisika si anjioko nya'dona 'da zelevoi se ma'ba tana be miri ono be.” 8 Se takacina anjioko ŋgwà se ätibe liti 'di utiro voro orivoya ko ŋgwà Lu ro; oko ŋgwà se ätite tao'ba Lu ro ronye ni zelevoi ŋgye yi. 9 Tana tao'ba Lu ro a'bate ata kwoi si ekye: “Tu ŋgyena si oko, megona 'da ago Sara utina ŋgwaagoro 'da.”
10 Ago ko toto alo ono, oko ŋgwàagoro ritu Rebeka ro a'dote täpi alodi be, se ni zutu amaro Yisika. 11 Oko ta'doro anji ŋgwa alodi ro ko'ba ta tao'baro ro Lu modo ro robe osane mina ya, Lu atate anyari ekye: “Kayoŋwa induruna 'da kovolesi ri.” 12 Nda ata tase ono te teinye ànya utiako, teinye ànya yeyi ŋga aza ca kado kode kozi dri ko, ago ŋgaonji Lu ro änju zevona te läzi ndaro dri, ago ko ŋga aza se ànya koyete dri. 13 Oso taegyi kabe ata ronye ekye: “Mulu Yakoba te, oko ya maro osete Esau lomvo.”
14 Inye'do màtana ndi màkye Lu orivoya taŋgyeako ya? I'do inye. 15 Tana nda atate Musa ri ekye: “Ma'dona 'da yauni be 'dise aza malebe ri; ago ma'dona 'da yai'dwe be 'dise malebe ri.” 16 Ka'do inye, ŋga cini ätirute, ko tase lidri kabe olena oyena dri, oko toto yauni Lu ro dri ayani. 17 Tana taegyi atate 'bädri'ba Ezipeto ro ri ekye: “Ma'ba mi te 'bädri'ba ro tana maye losi robe mi si, mbara maro ka'daza ago liku maro lariza 'bädri cini yasi.” 18 Ka'do inye, Lu orivoya yauni be 'diaza se nda kabe olena ri, ago nda kani 'diaza se nda kolebe o'bane taeriako o'bana.
Kyila Lu ro ndi Yauni be
19 Oko alo amiro atana 'da märi ekye: “Ondro ono ka'do gindi inye, Lu unina taenji usune 'diaza be eŋwanye ya?” A'di lagana ole ndaro zo niya? 20 Oko mi orivoya a'di owo ya, lidri, ogone tadri Lu ro ozane ya? Lakaza ludri ro unina ko obe'ba se kobe anya be ejine ekye: “Mibe ma te nonye etaya?” 21 Caoko, mano se kabe lakaza obe nda orivoya taŋgye be losi oyene ludri si oso nda kolebe ronye, ago obena lakaza ritu ndi ni duŋguṛu alodi ludri ro yasi, alodi aza losi lämu'du aza ta ago azana ta losi menyeŋwa aza rota.
22 Endaro Lu ye ta kpate oso inye. Nda lete kyila ndaro ka'dane ago mbara ndaro o'bane unine. Oko nda a'dote yauni amba be ugu yaiŋgyivoya ta ànya se kyila ndaro kabe a'do sina rota, se te ṛo tufune ono. 23 Ago nda le kpate 'desi ndra ndaro ka'dane se edate ama se yauni ndaro zele ono dri, ama se nda edete 'desi ndaro urune ono. 24 Tana ama orivoya lidri se nda kuzibe owo, ko toto ni Yudai lakosi oko kpa ni Atrai lakosi. 25 Ono ni tase nda katabe buku Osea roya owo ekye:
“Lidri se ko orivoya lidri maro
mäzina 'da ‘Lidri Maro.’
Tu'de se mulu kote ana
mäzina 'da ‘'Dise Mulu Tawi.’
26 Ago vo modo gi se ititabe ànyari kigye
ekye: ‘Ami ko lidri maro’
lau äzina ànya 'da ŋgwai Lu lidriidriro ro.”
27 Ago Yesaya atate ta Yisaraele rota ekye: “Ondro lidri Yisaraele ro ka'do gica amba oso siŋgwa gyi'desi kala ronye, caoko toto fereŋwa ànyaro apana 'da; 28 tana Opi ondena vure ndaro 'bädri be 'da ndriŋwa ago tiṛi.” 29 Ndi oso Yesaya katabe kyeno ronye ekye: “Ondro aba Opi Mbaraekye ke'be zelevoi aza ko ämäri, aba mà'dona ndi oso Sodomo ronye, mà'dona ndi oso Gomora ronye.”
Mätu Paulo ro Yisaraele ta
30 Ago ma ata makye Atrai, se kojoyi kote andivo ànyaro o'bane ŋgye Lu be, a'bate ŋgye nda be taoma si; 31 oko lidri Lu ro, se kabe ugu ota uṛi se ekye o'bana iyi ni ŋgye Lu be ono, usuyi anya kote. 32 Usuyi kote etaya? Tana ànya 'bayi mi kote taoma dri oko 'bayi mi te tase kayibe oyena dri ayani. Ago ànya ugunayi pälite kuni ugu päli ro drisi 33 se taegyi kabe ata ronye ekye:
“Mindre, ma'ba kuni te Zaiona ya
o'bana lidri 'da päline,
kuni se o'bana ànya 'da o'dene owo.
Oko nda se kabe taoma nda ya a'dona kote driupiro.”