1 我在基督里说真话,并不谎言,有我良心被圣灵感动,给我作见证。 I speak the truth in Christ--I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit-- |
2 我是大有忧愁,心里时常伤痛。 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. |
3 为我弟兄,我骨肉之亲,就是自己被咒诅,与基督分离,我也愿意。 For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, those of my own race, |
4 他们是以色列人。那儿子的名分,荣耀,诸约,律法,礼仪,应许,都是他们的。 the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises. |
5 列祖就是他们的祖宗,按肉体说,基督也是从他们出来的,他是在万有之上,永远可称颂的神。阿们。 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen. |
6 这不是说神的话落了空。因为从以色列生的,不都是以色列人。 It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel. |
7 也不因为是亚伯拉罕的后裔,就都作他的儿女。惟独从以撒生的,才要称为你的后裔。 Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham's children. On the contrary, "It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned." |
8 这就是说,肉身所生的儿女,不是神的儿女。惟独那应许的儿女,才算是后裔。 In other words, it is not the natural children who are God's children, but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham's offspring. |
9 因为所应许的话是这样说,到明年这时候我要来,撒拉必生一个儿子。 For this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son." |
10 不但如此,还有利百加,既从一个人,就是从我们的祖宗以撒怀了孕。 Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac. |
11 (双子还没有生下来,善恶还没有作出来,只因要显明神拣选人的旨意,不在乎人的行为,乃在乎召人的主)。 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad--in order that God's purpose in election might stand: |
12 神就对利百加说,将来大的要服事小的。 not by works but by him who calls--she was told, "The older will serve the younger." |
13 正如经上所记,雅各是我所爱的,以扫是我所恶的。 Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated." |
14 这样,我们可说什么呢?难道神有什么不公平吗?断乎没有。 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! |
15 因他对摩西说,我要怜悯谁,就怜悯谁,要恩待谁,就恩待谁。 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion." |
16 据此看来,这不在乎那定意的,也不在乎那奔跑的,只在乎发怜悯的神。 It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy. |
17 因为经上有话向法老说,我将你兴起来,特要在你身上彰显我的权能,并要使我的名传遍天下。 For the 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." |
18 如此看来,神要怜悯谁,就怜悯谁,要叫谁刚硬,就叫谁刚硬。 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. |
19 这样,你必对我说,他为什么还指责人呢?有谁抗拒他的旨意呢? One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?" |
20 你这个人哪,你是谁,竟敢向神强嘴呢?受造之物岂能对造他的说,你为什么这样造我呢? But who are you, O man, to talk back to God? "Shall what is formed say to him who formed it, 'Why did you make me like this?'" |
21 窑匠难道没有权柄,从一团泥里拿一块作成贵重的器皿,又拿一块作成卑贱的器皿吗? Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for noble purposes and some for common use? |
22 倘若神要显明他的忿怒,彰显他的权能,就多多忍耐宽容那可怒预备遭毁灭的器皿。 What if God, choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience the objects of his wrath--prepared for destruction? |
23 又要将他丰盛的荣耀,彰显在那蒙怜悯早预备得荣耀的器皿上。 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory-- |
24 这器皿就是我们被神所召的,不但是从犹太人中,也是从外邦人中,这有什么不可呢? even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? |
25 就像神在何西阿书上说,那本来不是我子民的,我要称为我的子民。本来不是蒙爱的,我要称为蒙爱的。 As he says in Hosea: "I will call them 'my people' who are not my people; and I will call her 'my loved one' who is not my loved one," |
26 从前在什么地方对他们说,你们不是我的子民,将来就在那里称他们为永生神的儿子。 and, "It will happen that in the very place where it was said to them, 'You are not my people,' they will be called 'sons of the living God.'" |
27 以赛亚指着以色列人喊着说,以色列人虽多如海沙,得救的不过是剩下的余数。 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved. |
28 因为主要在世上施行他的话,叫他的话都成全,速速地完结。 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality." |
29 又如以赛亚先前说过,若不是万军之主给我们存留余种,我们早已像所多玛,蛾摩拉的样子了。 It is just as Isaiah said previously: "Unless the Lord Almighty had left us descendants, we would have become like Sodom, we would have been like Gomorrah." |
30 这样,我们可说什么呢?那本来不追求义的外邦人,反得了义,就是因信而得的义。 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith; |
31 但以色列人追求律法的义,反得不着律法的义。 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it. |
32 这是什么缘故呢?是因为他们不凭着信心求,只凭着行为求。他们正跌在那绊脚石上。 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone." |
33 就如经上所记,我在锡安放一块绊脚的石头,跌人的磐石。信靠他的人必不至于羞愧。 As it is written: "See, I lay in Zion a stone that causes men to stumble and a rock that makes them fall, and the one who trusts in him will never be put to shame." |