Romans 9:25-33

25God says this in the book of Hosea: ‘I will say to people who were not my people, “Now you are my people.” I will say to people that I did not love, “I love you.” ’

26‘God had said to them, “You are not my people.” In the same place where he said that, people will now call them “Children of God, who lives for ever.” ’

27Also, Isaiah, God's prophet, said this about Israel's people: ‘There are so many of Israel's people, nobody can count them. They are as many as the bits of sand on the shore of the sea. But God will save only a few of them.

28The Lord God will finish his work quickly. He has warned his people what he will do. And he will punish them completely.’

29Isaiah had already said this: ‘The Lord of great power has let some of our children live. If he had not done that, no descendants would remain. We would have become like the people in Sodom and Gomorrah.’

30So, we must think about what all this means. The Gentiles were not trying to become right with God. But some of them have now become right with him. God has accepted them as right, because they have believed in Jesus Christ.

31But Israel's people tried to find a law that would make them right with God. But they failed to become right with God.

32They failed because they refused to believe in Christ. Instead, they were trying to do certain things so that God would accept them. Because of that they fell to the ground. Their feet hit the stone which causes people to fall.

33It says this in the Bible: ‘Look, I am putting a special stone in Zion. That stone will cause people to fall to the ground. It is a rock that will make them fall down. But anyone who believes in him will never be disappointed.’