Romans · 36 verses

Romans 11

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The chapter

What happens here

Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.

Elijah declares himself the only one left, and the reply produces a reserve of seven thousand men—an astonishingly exact answer to a prophet’s lonely arithmetic.

A remnant, even when the numbers look bleakvv. 1–10

The speaker begins with his own Israelite descent, from Abraham and the tribe of Benjamin, and refuses the thought that God has rejected Israel. Elijah once appealed against Israel as though he alone remained, but God had reserved seven thousand who had not bowed to Baal. So the present remnant is chosen by grace. Israel has not obtained what it sought; the elect have, while the others were hardened, their eyes darkened and their backs bent.

The olive tree does the supportingvv. 11–24

Israel’s trespass has brought salvation to the Gentiles, and the speaker hopes that this will provoke his own people to jealousy. The image then shifts to an olive tree: some natural branches are broken off, while a wild shoot is grafted in and fed by the root. The wild shoot has no grounds for boasting, since the root supports it. The natural branches may be grafted in again, which is presented as the easier gardening operation.

Disobedience, mercy, and untraceable waysvv. 25–36

A mystery is set before the Gentiles: Israel has experienced a hardening in part until the full number of the Gentiles has come in, and all Israel will be saved. Though Israel is called an enemy regarding the gospel, it is loved regarding election, because of the patriarchs; God’s gifts and call do not turn back. The argument reaches its most startling inversion when everyone is consigned to disobedience so that mercy may be shown to everyone. At that, the speaker stops explaining and marvels at the depth of God’s wisdom and knowledge.

The text

Read it

Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

Rom 11:1I ask then, did God reject His people? Certainly not! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
Rom 11:2God did not reject His people, whom He foreknew. Do you not know what the Scripture says about Elijah, how he appealed to God against Israel:
Rom 11:3“Lord, they have killed Your prophets and torn down Your altars. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well”?
Rom 11:4And what was the divine reply to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
Rom 11:5In the same way, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
Rom 11:6And if it is by grace, then it is no longer by works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.
Rom 11:7What then? What Israel was seeking, it failed to obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened,
Rom 11:8as it is written: “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that could not see, and ears that could not hear, to this very day.”
Rom 11:9And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution to them.
Rom 11:10May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.”
Rom 11:11I ask then, did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Certainly not! However, because of their trespass, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel jealous.
Rom 11:12But if their trespass means riches for the world, and their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!
Rom 11:13I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry
Rom 11:14in the hope that I may provoke my own people to jealousy and save some of them.
Rom 11:15For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead?
Rom 11:16If the first part of the dough is holy, so is the whole batch; if the root is holy, so are the branches.
Rom 11:17Now if some branches have been broken off, and you, a wild olive shoot, have been grafted in among the others to share in the nourishment of the olive root,
Rom 11:18do not boast over those branches. If you do, remember this: You do not support the root, but the root supports you.
Rom 11:19You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.”
Rom 11:20That is correct: They were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but be afraid.
Rom 11:21For if God did not spare the natural branches, He will certainly not spare you either.
Rom 11:22Take notice, therefore, of the kindness and severity of God: severity to those who fell, but kindness to you, if you continue in His kindness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
Rom 11:23And if they do not persist in unbelief, they will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
Rom 11:24For if you were cut from a wild olive tree, and contrary to nature were grafted into one that is cultivated, how much more readily will these, the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree!
Rom 11:25I do not want you to be ignorant of this mystery, brothers, so that you will not be conceited: A hardening in part has come to Israel, until the full number of the Gentiles has come in.
Rom 11:26And so all Israel will be saved, as it is written: “The Deliverer will come from Zion; He will remove godlessness from Jacob.
Rom 11:27And this is My covenant with them when I take away their sins.”
Rom 11:28Regarding the gospel, they are enemies on your account; but regarding election, they are loved on account of the patriarchs.
Rom 11:29For God’s gifts and His call are irrevocable.
Rom 11:30Just as you who formerly disobeyed God have now received mercy through their disobedience,
Rom 11:31so they too have now disobeyed, in order that they too may now receive mercy through the mercy shown to you.
Rom 11:32For God has consigned everyone to disobedience so that He may have mercy on everyone.
Rom 11:33O, the depth of the riches of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments, and untraceable His ways!
Rom 11:34“Who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been His counselor?”
Rom 11:35“Who has first given to God, that God should repay him?”
Rom 11:36For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever! Amen.

01 — Also here

Who else the chapter reaches

Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

02 — Read alongside

Where this is echoed

Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 507 passages were voted onto 36 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

26 Isaiah 59:20“The Redeemer will come to Zion, to those in Jacob who turn from transgression,” declares the LORD.
36 Colossians 1:15–17The Son is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn over all creation.
36 1 Corinthians 8:6yet for us there is but one God, the Father, from whom all things came and for whom we exist. And there is but one Lord, Jesus Christ, through whom all things came and through whom we exist.
8 Deuteronomy 29:4Yet to this day the LORD has not given you a mind to understand, eyes to see, or ears to hear.
29 Hebrews 7:21but Jesus became a priest with an oath by the One who said to Him: “The Lord has sworn and will not change His mind: ‘You are a priest forever.’”
29 Numbers 23:19God is not a man, that He should lie, or a son of man, that He should change His mind. Does He speak and not act? Does He promise and not fulfill?
8 Isaiah 29:10For the LORD has poured out on you a spirit of deep sleep. He has shut your eyes, O prophets; He has covered your heads, O seers.
9 Psalms 69:22–23May their table become a snare; may it be a retribution and a trap.
33 Job 11:7–9Can you fathom the deep things of God or discover the limits of the Almighty?
33 Job 5:9the One who does great and unsearchable things, wonders without number.
29 Malachi 3:6“Because I, the LORD, do not change, you descendants of Jacob have not been destroyed.
3 1 Kings 19:10–18“I have been very zealous for the LORD, the God of Hosts,” he replied, “but the Israelites have forsaken Your covenant, torn down Your altars, and killed Your prophets with the sword. I am the only one left, and they are seeking my life as well.”
33 Psalms 92:5How great are Your works, O LORD, how deep are Your thoughts!
26 Jeremiah 31:31–37Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel and with the house of Judah.
34 Isaiah 40:13Who has directed the Spirit of the LORD, or informed Him as His counselor?
36 Hebrews 2:10In bringing many sons to glory, it was fitting for God, for whom and through whom all things exist, to make the author of their salvation perfect through suffering.

Onward

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