God and His People
1 I am speaking the truth; I belong to Christ and I do not lie. My conscience, ruled by the Holy Spirit, also assures me that I am not lying 2 when I say how great is my sorrow, how endless the pain in my heart 3 for my people, my own flesh and blood! For their sake I could wish that I myself were under God's curse and separated from Christ. 4 They are God's people; he made them his children and revealed his glory to them; he made his covenants with them and gave them the Law; they have the true worship; they have received God's promises; 5 they are descended from the famous Hebrew ancestors; and Christ, as a human being, belongs to their race. May God, who rules over all, be praised forever! Amen.
6 I am not saying that the promise of God has failed; for not all the people of Israel are the people of God. 7 Nor are all of Abraham's descendants the children of God. God said to Abraham, “It is through Isaac that you will have the descendants I promised you.” 8 This means that the children born in the usual way are not the children of God; instead, the children born as a result of God's promise are regarded as the true descendants. 9 For God's promise was made in these words: “At the right time I will come back, and Sarah will have a son.”
10 And this is not all. For Rebecca's two sons had the same father, our ancestor Isaac. 11-12 But in order that the choice of one son might be completely the result of God's own purpose, God said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” He said this before they were born, before they had done anything either good or bad; so God's choice was based on his call, and not on anything they had done. 13 As the scripture says, “I loved Jacob, but I hated Esau.”
14 Shall we say, then, that God is unjust? Not at all. 15 For he said to Moses, “I will have mercy on anyone I wish; I will take pity on anyone I wish.” 16 So then, everything depends, not on what we humans want or do, but only on God's mercy. 17 For the scripture says to the king of Egypt, “I made you king in order to use you to show my power and to spread my fame over the whole world.” 18 So then, God has mercy on anyone he wishes, and he makes stubborn anyone he wishes.
God's Anger and Mercy
19 But one of you will say to me, “If this is so, how can God find fault with anyone? Who can resist God's will?” 20 But who are you, my friend, to talk back to God? A clay pot does not ask the man who made it, “Why did you make me like this?” 21 After all, the man who makes the pots has the right to use the clay as he wishes, and to make two pots from the same lump of clay, one for special occasions and the other for ordinary use.
22 And the same is true of what God has done. He wanted to show his anger and to make his power known. But he was very patient in enduring those who were the objects of his anger, who were doomed to destruction. 23 And he also wanted to reveal his abundant glory, which was poured out on us who are the objects of his mercy, those of us whom he has prepared to receive his glory. 24 For we are the people he called, not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles. 25 This is what he says in the book of Hosea:
“The people who were not mine
I will call ‘My People.’
The nation that I did not love
I will call ‘My Beloved.’
26 And in the very place where they were told, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called the children of the living God.”
27 And Isaiah exclaims about Israel: “Even if the people of Israel are as many as the grains of sand by the sea, yet only a few of them will be saved; 28 for the Lord will quickly settle his full account with the world.” 29 It is as Isaiah had said before, “If the Lord Almighty had not left us some descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah.”
Israel and the Gospel
30 So we say that the Gentiles, who were not trying to put themselves right with God, were put right with him through faith; 31 while God's people, who were seeking a law that would put them right with God, did not find it. 32 And why not? Because they did not depend on faith but on what they did. And so they stumbled over the “stumbling stone” 33 that the scripture speaks of:
“Look, I place in Zion a stone
that will make people stumble,
a rock that will make them fall.
But whoever believes in him will not 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.”