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.”
Oshigwana sha hogololwa kuKalunga
1 Ngame omuntu gwaKristus ote popi oshili, ite fundju. Eiyuvo lyandje otali popile ndje kutya ite fundju, oshoka otali wilikwa kOmbepo Ondjapuki. 2 Ondi na aluhe oluhodhi olunene nuuwehame momwenyo gwandje omolwaantu yoshigwana shandje Aaisraeli. 3 Oshoka omolwawo onda hala, ando ndi tulwe omutima kuKalunga nondi yoololwe ko kuKristus. 4 Oyo aahogololwa yaKalunga, sho e ya ningi oyana nokwe ya pe eadhimo lye. Oye okwa dhike ehangano nayo nokwe ya pe ompango, elongelokalunga lyashili nomauvaneko ge. 5 Moohekulu omo mwa zi Kristus, sho a ningi omuntu. Kalunga, omupangeli gwaayihe, na hambelelwe aluhe sigo aluhe! Amen.
6 Ngame itandi ti ando kutya euvaneko lyaKalunga inali kwatha sha, aawe, oshoka Aaisraeli haayehe aahogololwa yaKalunga. 7 Osho wo aana yaAbraham haayehe aana yaKalunga, oshoka Kalunga okwa lombwele Abraham a ti. “Aana yaIsak oyo ayeke taa ka talwa aamwoye.” 8 Shika otashi ti kutya aanona ya valwa pahalo lyomuntu alike hayo aana yaKalunga, ihe aanona mboka ya valwa pauvaneko lyaKalunga, oyo taa talwa oyana. 9 Oshoka oohapu dheuvaneko lyaKalunga odha li ngeyi: “Otandi ka galuka pethimbo lyo opala notandi ka adha Sara e na okanona okamati.”
10 Hasho shika ashike. Oshoka aana yaRebekka aamati yaali oya li aana yahe gumwe, tatekulu Isak. 11-12 Ihe opo ehogololo lyagumwe li kale naanaa, ngaashi Kalunga e shi dhiladhila, Kalunga mwene okwa lombwele Rebekka a ti: “Omumwoye omukuluntu ota ka longela omumwayina ngoka omushona.” Oye okwe shi popi, manga inaaya valwa nomanga inaaya ninga sha oshiwanawa nenge oshiwinayi. Oshoka Kalunga ngele ti ithana nenge ta hogolola, itaku talwa iilonga. 13 Ngaashi enyolo tali ti kutya Kalunga okwa li e hole Jakob e ta tondo Esau.
14 Otatu ti ngiini ano? Otatu ti ando kutya Kalunga ke shi omuyuuki? Itashi vulika! 15 Oshoka Kalunga okwa lombwele Moses a ti: “Otandi sile ohenda ngoka nda hala oku mu sila ohenda notandi si olukeno ngoka nda hala oku mu sa olukeno.” 16 Onkee ano kashi shi oshinima tashi ningilwa omuntu molwehalo lye nenge molwiilonga ye, ihe ote shi ningilwa molwesilohenda lyaKalunga. 17 Oshoka enyolo otali popi Farao tali ti: “Kalunga okwe ku ningi omukwaniilwa oku ku longitha, a holole oonkondo dhe noku tseyithe edhina lye muuyuni auhe.” 18 Onkee ano Kalunga ota sile ohenda ngoka a hala oku mu sila ohenda nota kukutike ngoka a hala oku mu kukutika.
Ondjahi nesilohenda lyaKalunga
19 Gumwe gwomune okwa hala okupula ndje ngiika a tye: “Ngele osho ngawo, Kalunga ota vulu ngiini okupa omuntu uusama? Oshoka olye ta vulu okutinda ehalo lyaKalunga?” 20 Ihe ongoye lye, kuume kandje, u vule okuyamukula Kalunga? Ndishi oshuma sheloya itashi vulu okupula ngoka e shi hongo, shi tye: “Omolwashike wa ningi ndje ngeyi?” 21 Oshoka omuhongi gwiiyuma kehe oku na oonkondo dhokuutha eloya, e li ninge ngaashi a hala, ye a honge meloya tuu ndyoka oshuma shimwe shi na ondilo noshikwawo shombiliha.
22 Ano Kalunga osho a ningi ngaaka. Oye okwa li a hala okuholola ondjahi ye nokuulika oonkondo dhe, ihe okwi idhidhimike nokwa sile olukeno olunene aantu mboka ye na okugeelwa noya tegelela okuyonwa po. 23 Oye okwa li wo a hala okuholola uuwindji weadhimo lye, ndyoka e li zaleke tse mboka e tu sile ohenda nokwe tu longekidha oku li taamba. 24 Oshoka tse mboka e tu ithana, ine tu kutha owala mAajuda, ihe okwe tu kutha wo maapagani. 25 Oshoka membo lyaHosea ota popi ta ti:
“Aantu mboka ya li yaa shi yandje,
otandi ke yi ithana ‘aantu yandje’.
Oshigwana shoka nda li ndaa hole,
otandi ke shi ithana ‘omuholike gwandje’.
26 Pehala olyo tuu ndyoka ya lombwelelwe:
‘kamu shi aantu yandje,’
pehala olyo tuu ndyoka otaa ki ithanwa ngashingeyi aana yaKalunga omunamwenyo.”
27 Jesaja oti igidhile Israel ta ti: “Nonando Aaisraeli oya kale oyendji ye thike pehekevi lyopefuta, aashona yowala yomokati kawo taa ka hupithwa. 28 Oshoka Omuwa ota ka ninga mbala eyalulo netokolo lyahugunina muuyuni auhe.” 29 Shika osho shoka Jesaja e shi popi nale ta ti: “Ando Omuwa Omunankondoadhihe ine tu hupithila sha koluvalo lwetu, ando twa ningi twa fa Sodom notu ningwe ngaashi Gomorra.”
Israel nevaangeli
30 Otatu ti ngiini ano? Aapagani mboka inaaya kambadhala okwiininga aayuuki koshipala shaKalunga, oya ningwa aayuuki molweitaalo. 31 Aaisraeli mboka ya kambadhala nompango, yi ya ninge aayuuki koshipala shaKalunga, oya nyengwa. 32 Omolwashike? Oshoka shoka ye shi ningi, kasha li shi ikwatelela keitaalo, ihe okiilonga. Oyo oyi ipumu kemanya tali pundukitha, 33 ndyoka tali popiwa kenyolo kutya:
“Tala, otandi tula muSion emanya tali pundukitha aantu,
emanya hoka aantu taa ki ipuma ko.
Ihe ngoka te mu itaale,
ita sithwa ohoni.”
