Bible / Romans

Romans 11

World English Bible, Catholic edition, in plain modern English. About the translations

1 I ask then, did God reject his people? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

2 God didn’t reject his people, whom he foreknew. Or don’t you know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel:

3 “Lord, they have killed your prophets. They have broken down your altars. I am left alone, and they seek my life.”

4 But how does God answer him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”

5 Even so too at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace.

6 And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work.

7 What then? That which Israel seeks for, that he didn’t obtain, but the chosen ones obtained it, and the rest were hardened.

8 According as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.”

9 David says, “Let their table be made a snare, a trap, a stumbling block, and a retribution to them.

10 Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see. Always keep their backs bent.”

11 I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? May it never be! But by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy.

12 Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles, how much more their fullness! CCC

13 For I speak to you who are Gentiles. Since then as I am an apostle to Gentiles, I glorify my ministry, CCC

14 if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and may save some of them.

15 For if the rejection of them is the reconciling of the world, what would their acceptance be, but life from the dead? CCC

16 If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches.

17 But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree, CCC · Fathers

18 don’t boast over the branches. But if you boast, remember that it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you. CCC

19 You will say then, “Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.”

20 True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don’t be conceited, but fear; CCC

21 for if God didn’t spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. Fathers

22 See then the goodness and severity of God. Toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off.

23 They also, if they don’t continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.

24 For if you were cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more will these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? CCC

25 For I don’t desire you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you won’t be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, CCC

26 and so all Israel will be saved. Even as it is written, “There will come out of Zion the Deliverer, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. Fathers

27 This is my covenant with them, when I will take away their sins.”

28 Concerning the Good News, they are enemies for your sake. But concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sake. CCC

29 For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. CCC

30 For as you in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience,

31 even so these also have now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they may also obtain mercy.

32 For God has bound all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all. Fathers

33 Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out!

34 “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” Fathers

35 “Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid to him again?”

36 For of him and through him and to him are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen.

This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church

Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text.

  1. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 674 “The glorious Messiah's coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by "all Israel", for "a hardening has come…”
  2. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 755 “The Church is a cultivated field, the tillage of God. On that land the ancient olive tree grows whose holy roots were…”
  3. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 674 “The glorious Messiah's coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by "all Israel", for "a hardening has come…”
  4. Read the Catechism and Fathers
    • CCC 60 “The people descended from Abraham would be the trustee of the promise made to the patriarchs, the chosen people, called to prepare…”
    • “… was that Paul said, "For if [God] spared not the natural branches, [take heed] lest He also spare not thee, who, when thou wert a wild olive tree, wert grafted into the fatness of the olive tree, and wert made a partaker of its fatness.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXVII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

    • “But thou, being a wild olive-tree," he says, "hast been grafted into the good olive-tree, and been made a partaker of the fatness of the olive-tree.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter X. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  5. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 60 “The people descended from Abraham would be the trustee of the promise made to the patriarchs, the chosen people, called to prepare…”
  6. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 591 “Jesus asked the religious authorities of Jerusalem to believe in him because of the Father's works which he accomplished. But such an…”
  7. Read the Fathers
    • “… was that Paul said, "For if [God] spared not the natural branches, [take heed] lest He also spare not thee, who, when thou wert a wild olive tree, wert grafted into the fatness of the olive tree, and wert made a partaker of its fatness.”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXVII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  8. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 60 “The people descended from Abraham would be the trustee of the promise made to the patriarchs, the chosen people, called to prepare…”
  9. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 591 “Jesus asked the religious authorities of Jerusalem to believe in him because of the Father's works which he accomplished. But such an…”
    • CCC 674 “The glorious Messiah's coming is suspended at every moment of history until his recognition by "all Israel", for "a hardening has come…”
  10. Read the Fathers
    • “… of His words, and said to the woman, Now we believe, not because of thy saying, for we ourselves have heard [Him], and know that this man is truly the Saviour of the world." And Paul likewise declares, "And so all Israel shall be saved;”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter II. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  11. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 60 “The people descended from Abraham would be the trustee of the promise made to the patriarchs, the chosen people, called to prepare…”
  12. Read the Catechism
    • CCC 839 “Those who have not yet received the Gospel are related to the People of God in various ways." The relationship of the…”
  13. Read the Fathers
    • “And therefore Paul declares, "For God hath concluded all in unbelief, that He may have mercy upon all;”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book III, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XX. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1

  14. Read the Fathers
    • “For what other person "knew the mind of the Lord," or who else "has become His counsellor?”

      Quoted in Against Heresies, Book V, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter I. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1