罗马书 9
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."