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14 What then shall we say? There is no avla (injustice) with G-d, is there? Chas v’shalom!

15 For to Moshe Rabbeinu Hashem says, V’CHANNOTI ES ASHER ACHON V’RICHAMETTI ES ASHER ARACHEM ("I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion" SHEMOT 33:19).

16 So then, it is not a matter of the one who wills or the one who runs. It is a matter of the YAD HASHEM HACHANINAH (the hand of the G-d of gracious, free mercy).

17 For the Kitvei Hakodesh says to Pharaoh, BA’AVUR ZOT HE’EMADTICHA BA’AVUR HAROTECHA ES KOCHI ULEMA’AN SAPER SHMI BECHOL HA’ARETZ ("For this purpose I raised you up, in order that I might demonstrate in you my power and in order that my Name might be proclaimed in all the earth" SHEMOT 9:16).

18 So then, to whom Hashem wills Hashem shows chaninah (mercy, free grace), but whom Hashem wills he hardens (that is, makes unresponsive or more mired down in KESHI (stubbornness, hardness)[DEVARIM 9:27].

19 You will say to me, “Then why does Hashem still find fault? For who has resisted His will?"

20 On the contrary, who are you, a human being, to answer back to G-d? VEYETZER AMAR LEYOTZRO ("Can the pot say to the potter" YESHAYAH 29:16), "Why have you made me thus?"

21 Or does the potter not have the right over the clay [YIRMEYAH 18:6] to make from the same lump one vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use?

22 But what if naniach (supposing) Hashem, willing to demonstrate His Charon Af Hashem (burning anger of G-d) and to make known His ko’ach (power)[1:18,16], put up with and endured with zitzfleisch (patience) vessels which are objects of G-d’s Charon Af (burning anger), objects made ready for Churban [9:3],

23 And in order that He might make known the wealth of His kavod (glory) on vessels which are objects of Hashem’s chaninah (mercy, free grace) which He prepared beforehand for kavod? [8:29-30]

24 By which I mean us, whom also He called, not only from the Yehudim but also from the non-Jews,

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14 What then shall we say?(A) Is God unjust? Not at all!(B) 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.”[a](C)

16 It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy.(D) 17 For 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.”[b](E) 18 Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden.(F)

19 One of you will say to me:(G) “Then why does God still blame us?(H) For who is able to resist his will?”(I) 20 But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God?(J) “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it,(K) ‘Why did you make me like this?’”[c](L) 21 Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?(M)

22 What if God, although choosing to show his wrath and make his power known, bore with great patience(N) the objects of his wrath—prepared for destruction?(O) 23 What if he did this to make the riches of his glory(P) known to the objects of his mercy, whom he prepared in advance for glory(Q) 24 even us, whom he also called,(R) not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles?(S)

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Footnotes

  1. Romans 9:15 Exodus 33:19
  2. Romans 9:17 Exodus 9:16
  3. Romans 9:20 Isaiah 29:16; 45:9