Romans 11:18-36

¹⁸However, you non-Jews must not despise the Jews whom God rejected MET, who are like the branches that were broken off from the tree If any of you wants to boast about having received blessings from God, remember this: Branches do not nourish the roots. Instead the roots nourish the branches MET. Similarly, you are blessed by God because of what you have received from the Jews! It is not what the Jews have received from you that blesses them MET!

¹⁹If one of you then says, “ God rejected the Jews MET like branches MET that are broken {that people broke} off a tree and rejected, in order that he might accept us non-Jews, as branches MET of a tree are grafted in { as people graft in branches of a tree},”

²⁰I would reply that this is true. However, it is because the Jews did not believe in Christ that they were rejected MET {that God rejected MET them}. As for you, it is only because you believe in Christ that God has accepted you! So do not any of you become proud, but instead beware of what could happen to you

²¹Since God did not spare the unbelieving Jews MET who were like a tree's natural branches, he will not spare any of you if you do not keep trusting in him!

²²Note then, that God acts kindly, but he also acts severely. He has acted severely toward the Jews who have stopped trusting in him. On the other hand, he acts kindly toward each of you non-Jews only if you continue to appreciate his acting kindly toward you. However, you will be rejected { he will reject you} if you do not keep trusting in him.

²³And if the Jews believe in Christ LIT, God also will reunite them to himself as branches are grafted { as people graft branches} into a tree again, because God is able to do that.

²⁴Each of you non-Jews who were previously separated from God has benefited from the ways in which God blessed the Jews MET. That is like taking branches that have been cut {that someone has cut} from a wild olive tree that just grew without being planted { someone planting it} and, contrary to what people usually do, grafting them into a cultivated olive tree. So God will much more readily receive back the Jews because they belonged to him before MET! That will be like the original branches that had been cut off being grafted {like grafting the original branches that someone cut off,} back into the olive tree to which they originally belonged!

²⁵My non-Jewish fellow believers, I certainly want you to understand LIT this truth that God has now revealed about my fellow Jews who are refusing to believe. You should not proudly think that God now favors you more than the Jews (OR, that you understand God's further plans for the Jews). Many people of Israel will continue to be stubborn until all the non-Jews whom God has chosen have believed in Jesus.

²⁶And then all HYP the people of Israel will be saved { God will save all HYP the people of Israel}. Then these words that are written {that a prophet wrote} in the Scriptures will ◄ become true/be fulfilled►: The one who sets his people free will originate from the place where God dwells (OR, from the Jews) MTY. Then he will remove the guilt of the Israelite people (OR, descendants of Jacob) MTY.

²⁷And as God says, The contract that I will make with them is that I will forgive their sins.

²⁸With regard to the Jews rejecting the good message about Christ, God treats them as enemies, which has benefited you non-Jews. But in regard to their being the people whom God chose, God still loves them because of what he promised their ancestors.

²⁹He still loves them, because he never changed his mind about the privileges/blessings he gave to them and about his choosing them to be his people.

³⁰You non-Jews once disobeyed God, but now he has acted mercifully towards you because the Jews disobeyed him.

³¹Now the Jews have disobeyed God. The result is that by the very same way in which he acted mercifully towards you, he will act mercifully towards them again.

³²God has declared and proved that all people, both Jews and non-Jews MET, disobey ◄ him/his laws►. He has declared that because he wants to act mercifully towards us all.

³³I marvel how vast and great are the wise things that God has done and what he has always known DOU! We are completely unable to understand the things that he has decided and the ways in which he acts toward us DOU!

³⁴I remember the Scriptures that say, ◄No one has known what the Lord thinks./Who has known what the Lord thinks?► RHQ ◄Absolutely no one has given him advice about what he should do!/Who has advised him about what he should do?► RHQ

³⁵And, ◄No one has given anything to God that he did not previously receive from God!/Has anyone given anything to God that he did not previously receive from God?► RHQ So God ◄is not obligated to/does not have to► pay back anything to anyone!

³⁶God is the one who created all things. He is also the one who sustains all things. The reason that he created them was that everything he created might praise him. May all people honor him forever! ◄May it be so!/Amen!►