11 ¹ I ASK THEN, has God rejected his people? I cannot believe it! I am an Israelite myself, of the stock of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 11 ^{2 [ Ps.94.14. ]} No! God has not rejected the people which he acknowledged of old as his own. You know (do you not?) what Scripture says in the story of Elijah—how Elijah pleads with God against Israel: 11 ^{3 [ 1Kgs.19.10-14. ]} 'Lord, they have killed thy prophets, they have torn down thine altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.' 11 ^{4 [ 1Kgs.19.18. ]} But what does the divine voice say to him? 'I have left myself seven thousand men who have not knelt to Baal.' 11 ⁵ In just the same way at the present time a 'remnant' has come into being, selected by the grace of God. 11 ⁶ But if it is by grace, then it does not rest on deeds done, or grace would cease to be grace.

11 ⁷ What follows? What Israel sought, Israel has not achieved, but the selected few have achieved it. The rest were made blind to the truth, 11 ^{8 [ Dt.29.4, Is.29.10. ]} exactly as it stands written: 'God brought upon them a numbness of spirit; he gave them blind eyes and deaf ears, and so it is still.' 11 ^{9 [ Ps.69.22-23, Ps.35.8. ]} Similarly David says:

'May their table be a snare and a trap,
both stumbling-block and retribution!
11 ¹⁰ May their eyes be darkened so that they lose their sight!
Bow down their backs unceasingly!'

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Notes: This page displays the Revised Standard Version as flowing text. The katapi New Study Bible reference section has been incorporated into the page as follows: Links to parallel passages show below passage headings. Links to Old Testament quotations in New Testament verses show after the verse number.
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Please e-mail me. © Paul Ingram 2012.