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 overthrown thine altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.' 11 ^{4 [ 1Kgs.19.18. ]} But what does the oracle say to him? 'I have left myself seven thousand men who have not done homage 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: