1 I speak the truth in Christ--I am not lying, my conscience confirms it in the Holy Spirit--
我在基督里说真话，不撒谎。我的良知在圣灵里作证。
2 I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart.
我心中大有忧愁，困苦不断。
3 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,
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。
4 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.
因为他们是以色列人。儿子的名分、神圣的荣耀、几次立约、接受律法、殿堂的敬拜和所有应 许，都是他们的。
5 Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of Christ, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen.
列祖是他们的，从基督一脉相承。基督乃在万有之上，是永远可称颂的神。阿们。
6 It is not as though God's word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
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。
7 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."
也不因为是亚伯拉罕的后裔，就都作他的儿女。恰恰相反，“从 以撒生的，才认作为你的后裔。”
8 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.
换句话说，自然生的儿女，不是神的儿女。惟独那应许的儿女，才算是亚伯拉罕的后裔。
9 For this was how the promise was stated: "At the appointed time I will return, and Sarah will have a son."
因为，应许的话是这样说的：“明年此时我要来，撒拉必生一个儿子。”
10 Not only that, but Rebekah's children had one and the same father, our father Isaac.
不仅如此，利百加从我们的祖宗以撒生了孩子。
11 Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad--in order that God's purpose in election might stand:
然而，双胞胎还没有落地，善恶不分之前，神早已旗帜鲜明：
12 not by works but by him who calls--she was told, "The older will serve the younger."
不凭功劳，乃凭呼召。神对利百加说：“将来大的要服事小的。”
13 Just as it is written: "Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated."
正如经上所记：“雅各是我所爱的，以扫是我所恶的。”
14 What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all!
那么，我们可说什么呢？神不公正吗？完全不是！
15 For he says to Moses, "I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion."
因神对摩西说：“我要怜悯谁就怜悯谁；我要同情谁就同情谁。”
16 It does not, therefore, depend on man's desire or effort, but on God's mercy.
可见，不靠人的想法或努力，单靠神的怜悯。
17 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."
因为经上有话向法老说：“我兴起你，有特殊目的。为的是在你身上彰显我的大能，使我的名传遍天下。”
18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.
所以，神要怜悯谁就怜悯谁；要叫谁冥顽不化，谁就冥顽不化。
19 One of you will say to me: "Then why does God still blame us? For who resists his will?"
有人会问我：“神为什么还指责人呢？谁敢抗命呢？”
20 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?'
你这人哪，你是谁？竟敢向神犟嘴呢？被造的岂能问造物主：‘你为什么这样造我呢？’
21 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?
陶匠难道没有权力，从一团泥里拿一块作成贵重的器皿，又拿一块作成普通的器皿吗？
22 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?
惹怒神的，注定毁灭。而神以极大的耐心宽容，仅示怒和展示威力。这是怎么一回事？
23 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--
神怜悯谁就把荣耀彰显给谁。这是事先预备的，
24 even us, whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?
包括我们也蒙呼召，而不分犹太人、外邦人。这又是怎么一回事？
25 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,"
就像神在何西阿书上说的那样：“本来不是我的子民，我要称为‘我的子民’。本来不是我爱 的，我要称为‘我爱的’。
26 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.' "
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’。”
27 Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: "Though the number of the Israelites be like the sand by the sea, only the remnant will be saved.
以赛亚指着以色列人大喊：“以色列人虽多如海沙，得救的不过是剩余的。
28 For the Lord will carry out his sentence on earth with speed and finality."
因为主要在世上行刑，速战速决。”
29 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."
如以赛亚先前所说：“若不是万军之主给我们存留余种，我们早已落得所多玛、蛾摩拉的下场。”
30 What then shall we say? That the Gentiles, who did not pursue righteousness, have obtained it, a righteousness that is by faith;
我们还有什么可说的呢？本不求义的外邦人，反得了义，就是因信称义。
31 but Israel, who pursued a law of righteousness, has not attained it.
但以色列人追求义的律法，反得不着律法的义。
32 Why not? Because they pursued it not by faith but as if it were by works. They stumbled over the "stumbling stone."
这是什么缘故呢？因为他们不凭信心求，单凭功劳。他们正跌在那‘绊脚石’上。
33 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."
如经上所记：“要知道，我 在锡安放一块绊脚的石头，使人跌倒。信靠他的人绝不蒙羞。”