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.”
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.”
