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The Letter to the Romans · Chapter 9 of 16

Romans 9

Romans 9 is chapter 9 of 16 in the Letter to the Romans. Here are all 33 verses in the Catholic Public Domain Version, with the Latin of the Clementine Vulgate beside them.

About this chapter

Bp. Challoner’s summary

The apostle's concern for the Jews. God's election is free and not confined to their nation.

Bp. Richard Challoner · chapter summary

Romans 9, Catholic Public Domain Version

Romans 9Rom 9
  1. I am speaking the truth in Christ; I am not lying. My conscience offers testimony to me in the Holy Spirit,

    Veritatem dico in Christo, non mentior: testimonium mihi perhibente conscientia mea in Spiritu Sancto:

  2. 2

    because the sadness within me is great, and there is a continuous sorrow in my heart.

    quoniam tristitia mihi magna est, et continuus dolor cordi meo.

  3. 3

    For I was desiring that I myself might be anathemized from Christ, for the sake of my brothers, who are my kinsmen according to the flesh.†

    Optabam enim ego ipse anathema esse a Christo pro fratribus meis, qui sunt cognati mei secundum carnem,

  4. 4

    These are the Israelites, to whom belongs adoption as sons, and the glory and the testament, and the giving and following of the law, and the promises.

    qui sunt Israëlitæ, quorum adoptio est filiorum, et gloria, et testamentum, et legislatio, et obsequium, et promissa:

  5. 5

    Theirs are the fathers, and from them, according to the flesh, is the Christ, who is over all things, blessed God, for all eternity. Amen.

    quorum patres, et ex quibus est Christus secundum carnem, qui est super omnia Deus benedictus in sæcula. Amen.

  6. 6

    But it is not that the Word of God has perished. For not all those who are Israelites are of Israel.†

    Non autem quod exciderit verbum Dei. Non enim omnes qui ex Israël sunt, ii sunt Israëlitæ:

  7. 7

    And not all sons are the offspring of Abraham: “For your offspring will be invoked in Isaac.”

    neque qui semen sunt Abrahæ, omnes filii: sed in Isaac vocabitur tibi semen:

  8. 8

    In other words, those who are the sons of God are not those who are sons of the flesh, but those who are sons of the Promise; these are considered to be the offspring.

    id est, non qui filii carnis, hi filii Dei: sed qui filii sunt promissionis, æstimantur in semine.

  9. 9

    For the word of promise is this: “I will return at the proper time. And there shall be a son for Sarah.”

    Promissionis enim verbum hoc est: Secundum hoc tempus veniam: et erit Saræ filius.

  10. 10

    And she was not alone. For Rebecca also, having conceived by Isaac our father, from one act,

    Non solum autem illa: sed et Rebecca ex uno concubitu habens, Isaac patris nostri.

  11. 11

    when the children had not yet been born, and had not yet done anything good or bad (such that the purpose of God might be based on their choice),†

    Cum enim nondum nati fuissent, aut aliquid boni egissent, aut mali (ut secundum electionem propositum Dei maneret),

  12. 12

    and not because of deeds, but because of a calling, it was said to her: “The elder shall serve the younger.”

    non ex operibus, sed ex vocante dictum est ei quia major serviet minori,

  13. 13

    So also it was written: “I have loved Jacob, but I have hated Esau.”

    sicut scriptum est: Jacob dilexi, Esau autem odio habui.

  14. 14

    What should we say next? Is there unfairness with God? Let it not be so!

    Quid ergo dicemus? numquid iniquitas apud Deum? Absit.

  15. 15

    For to Moses he says: “I will pity whomever I pity. And I will offer mercy to whomever I will pity.”

    Moysi enim dicit: Miserebor cujus misereor: et misericordiam præstabo cujus miserebor.

  16. 16

    Therefore, it is not based on those who choose, nor on those who excel, but on God who takes pity.†

    Igitur non volentis, neque currentis, sed miserentis est Dei.

  17. 17

    For Scripture says to the Pharaoh: “I have raised you up for this purpose, so that I may reveal my power by you, and so that my name may be announced to all the earth.”†

    Dicit enim Scriptura Pharaoni: Quia in hoc ipsum excitavi te, ut ostendam in te virtutem meam: et ut annuntietur nomen meum in universa terra.

  18. 18

    Therefore, he takes pity on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.†

    Ergo cujus vult miseretur, et quem vult indurat.

  19. 19

    And so, you would say to me: “Then why does he still find fault? For who can resist his will?”

    Dicis itaque mihi: Quid adhuc queritur? voluntati enim ejus quis resistit?

  20. 20

    O man, who are you to question God? How can the thing that has been formed say to the One who formed him: “Why have you made me this way?”

    O homo, tu quis es, qui respondeas Deo? numquid dicit figmentum ei qui se finxit: Quid me fecisti sic?

  21. 21

    And does not the potter have the authority over the clay to make, from the same material, indeed, one vessel unto honor, yet truly another unto disgrace?†

    an non habet potestatem figulus luti ex eadem massa facere aliud quidem vas in honorem, aliud vero in contumeliam?

  22. 22

    What if God, wanting to reveal his wrath and to make his power known, endured, with much patience, vessels deserving wrath, fit to be destroyed,

    Quod si Deus volens ostendere iram, et notum facere potentiam suam, sustinuit in multa patientia vasa iræ, apta in interitum,

  23. 23

    so that he might reveal the wealth of his glory, within these vessels of mercy, which he has prepared unto glory?

    ut ostenderet divitias gloriæ suæ in vasa misericordiæ, quæ præparavit in gloriam.

  24. 24

    And so it is with those of us whom he has also called, not only from among the Jews, but even from among the Gentiles,

    Quos et vocavit nos non solum ex Judæis, sed etiam in gentibus,

  25. 25

    just as he says in Hosea: “I will call those who were not my people, ‘my people,’ and she who was not beloved, ‘beloved,’ and she who had not obtained mercy, ‘one who has obtained mercy.’

    sicut in Osee dicit: Vocabo non plebem meam, plebem meam: et non dilectam, dilectam: et non misericordiam consecutam, misericordiam consecutam.

  26. 26

    And this shall be: in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’ there they shall be called the sons of the living God.”

    Et erit: in loco, ubi dictum est eis: Non plebs mea vos: ibi vocabuntur filii Dei vivi.

  27. 27

    And Isaiah cried out on behalf of Israel: “When the number of the sons of Israel is like the sand of the sea, a remnant shall be saved.†

    Isaias autem clamat pro Israël: Si fuerit numerus filiorum Israël tamquam arena maris, reliquiæ salvæ fient.

  28. 28

    For he shall complete his word, while abbreviating it out of equity. For the Lord shall accomplish a brief word upon the earth.”

    Verbum enim consummans, et abbrevians in æquitate: quia verbum breviatum faciet Dominus super terram:

  29. 29

    And it is just as Isaiah predicted: “Unless the Lord of hosts had bequeathed offspring, we would have become like Sodom, and we would have been made similar to Gomorrah.”

    et sicut prædixit Isaias: Nisi Dominus Sabaoth reliquisset nobis semen, sicut Sodoma facti essemus, et sicut Gomorrha similes fuissemus.

  30. 30

    What should we say next? That the Gentiles who did not follow justice have attained justice, even the justice that is of faith.

    Quid ergo dicemus? Quod gentes, quæ non sectabantur justitiam, apprehenderunt justitiam: justitiam autem, quæ ex fide est.

  31. 31

    Yet truly, Israel, though following the law of justice, has not arrived at the law of justice.

    Israël vero sectando legem justitiæ, in legem justitiæ non pervenit.

  32. 32

    Why is this? Because they did not seek it from faith, but as if it were from works. For they stumbled over a stumbling block,

    Quare? Quia non ex fide, sed quasi ex operibus: offenderunt enim in lapidem offensionis,

  33. 33

    just as it was written: “Behold, I am placing a stumbling block in Zion, and a rock of scandal. But whoever believes in him shall not be confounded.”

    sicut scriptum est: Ecce pono in Sion lapidem offensionis, et petram scandali: et omnis qui credit in eum, non confundetur.

Catholic Public Domain Version (Ronald L. Conte Jr., 2009), public domain · Latin: Clementine Vulgate (1592)

Bishop Challoner’s notes

Bp. Richard Challoner, notes on the Douay-Rheims (1750). They comment on its older English wording, which can differ from the CPDV above; the verse numbers are matched to the CPDV.

  1. Verse 3

    A curse. The apostle's concern and love for his countrymen the Jews was so great, that he was willing to suffer even an anathema, or curse, for their sake; or any evil that could come upon him, without his offending God.

  2. Verse 6

    Not all, who are the carnal seed of Israel, are true Israelites in God's account: who, as by his free grace, he heretofore preferred Isaac before Ismael, and Jacob before Esau, so he could, and did by the like free grace, election and mercy, raise up spiritual children by faith to Abraham and Israel, from among the Gentiles, and prefer them before the carnal Jews.

  3. Verse 11

    By this example of these twins, and the preference of the younger to the elder, the drift of the apostle is, to shew that God, in his election, mercy and grace, is not tied to any particular nation, as the Jews imagined; nor to any prerogative of birth, or any forgoing merits. For as, antecedently to his grace, he sees no merits in any, but finds all involved in sin, in the common mass of condemnation; and all children of wrath: there is no one whom he might not justly leave in that mass; so that whomsoever he delivers from it, he delivers in his mercy: and whomsoever he leaves in it, he leaves in his justice. As when, of two equally criminal, the king is pleased out of pure mercy to pardon one, whilst he suffers justice to take place in the execution of the other.

  4. Verse 16

    That is, by any power or strength of his own, abstracting from the grace of God.

  5. Verse 17

    Not that God made him on purpose that he should sin, and so be damned; but foreseeing his obstinacy in sin, and the abuse of his own free will, he raised him up to be a mighty king, to make a more remarkable example of him: and that his power might be better known, and his justice in punishing him, published throughout the earth.

  6. Verse 18

    Not by being the cause or author of his sin, but by withholding his grace, and so leaving him in his sin, in punishment of his past demerits.

  7. Verse 21

    “The potter” … This similitude is used only to shew that we are not to dispute with our Maker, nor to reason with him why he does not give as much grace to one as to another; for since the whole lump of our clay is vitiated by sin, it is owing to his goodness and mercy, that he makes out of it so many vessels of honor; and it is no more than just, that others, in punishment of their unrepented sins, should be given up to be vessels of dishonor.

  8. Verse 27

    “A remnant” … That is, a small number only of the children of Israel shall be converted and saved. How perversely is this text quoted for the salvation of men of all religions, when it speaks only of the converts of the children of Israel!

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