New International Version
Romans 9:18
18Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
Romans 9:18 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
- English Standard Version (ESV)So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.
- New King James Version (NKJV)Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.
- New Living Translation (NLT)So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen.
Context of Romans 9:18
16It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. 19One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ”
Read all of Romans 9Romans 9:18 word by word
ἄρα οὖν ὃν θέλει ἐλεεῖ, ὃν δὲ θέλει σκληρύνει.¶Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
Cross-references for Romans 9:18
- Romans 9:15For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
- Romans 5:20The law was brought in so that the trespass might increase. But where sin increased, grace increased all the more,
- Ephesians 1:6to the praise of his glorious grace, which he has freely given us in the One he loves.
- Romans 1:24Therefore God gave them over in the sinful desires of their hearts to sexual impurity for the degrading of their bodies with one another.
- Romans 11:7What then? What the people of Israel sought so earnestly they did not obtain. The elect among them did, but the others were hardened,
- Exodus 4:21The Lord said to Moses, “When you return to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders I have given you the power to do. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.
- Exodus 7:13Yet Pharaoh’s heart became hard and he would not listen to them, just as the Lord had said.
- Deuteronomy 2:30But Sihon king of Heshbon refused to let us pass through. For the Lord your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate in order to give him into your hands, as he has now done.
- Joshua 11:20For it was the Lord himself who hardened their hearts to wage war against Israel, so that he might destroy them totally, exterminating them without mercy, as the Lord had commanded Moses.
- Isaiah 63:17Why, Lord, do you make us wander from your ways and harden our hearts so we do not revere you? Return for the sake of your servants, the tribes that are your inheritance.
- Matthew 13:14In them is fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah: “ ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
- Acts 28:26“ ‘Go to this people and say, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.”
- 2 Thessalonians 2:10and all the ways that wickedness deceives those who are perishing. They perish because they refused to love the truth and so be saved.
Commentaries on Romans 9:18
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 18Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will - This is the apostle's conclusion from the facts already laid down: that God, according to his own will and wisdom, in perfect righteousness, bestows mercy; that is to say, his blessings upon one part of mankind, (the Jews of old, and the Gentiles of the present time), while he suffers another part (the Egyptians of old, and the Jews of the present day) to go on in the abuse of his goodness and forbearance…Read the comment
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary · v. 14-24Verses 14-24 Whatever God does, must be just. Wherein the holy, happy people of God differ from others, God's grace alone makes them differ. In this preventing, effectual, distinguishing grace, he acts as a benefactor, whose grace is his own. None have deserved it; so that those who are saved, must thank God only; and those who perish, must blame themselves only, Hos 13:9. God is bound no further than he has been pleased to bind himself by his own…Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 18He hardens whom He wants to harden: Pharaoh refused to let Israel leave because his heart became hard. A hard heart describes stubborn resistance to God. It means refusing to listen or change, even after seeing clear signs of God’s power. The book of Exodus says that God hardened Pharaoh’s heart (Exodus 9:12). It also says that Pharaoh hardened his own heart (Exodus 8:15). Together, these statements show that Pharaoh was responsible for his actions, even…Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 1818. Therefore hath he--"So then he hath." The result then is that He hath mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth--by judicially abandoning them to the hardening influence of sin itself (Psa 81:11, 12; Ro 1:24, 26, 28; He 3:8, 13), and of the surrounding incentives to it (Mt 24:12; 1Co 15:38; 2Th 2:17). Second objection to the doctrine of Divine Sovereignty:Read the comment
- Calvin’s Commentaries · v. 1818. To whom he wills then he showeth mercy, etc. Here follows the conclusion of both parts; which can by no means be understood as being the language of any other but of the Apostle; for he immediately addresses an opponent, and adduces what might have been objected by an opposite party. There is therefore no doubt but that Paul, as we have already reminded you, speaks these things in his own person, namely, that God, according to his own will, favors…Read the comment
Topics related to Romans 9:18
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Romans 9
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Illustrated New Testament
- Burkitt’s Expository Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Family Bible Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- The People’s New Testament
- Robertson’s Word Pictures
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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