“The Scriptures talk about that stone: “Look, I put in Zion a stone that will make people stumble. It is a rock that will make people fall. But anyone who trusts in him will never be disappointed.” Isaiah 8:14; 28:16”
https://bible.com/bible/406/rom.9.33.ERV
“So what does all this mean? It means that people who are not Jews were made right with God because of their faith, even though they were not trying to make themselves right.
And the people of Israel, who tried to make themselves right with God by following the law, did not succeed. They failed because they tried to make themselves right by the things they did.
They did not trust in God to make them right. They fell over the stone that makes people fall.”
ERV
https://bible.com/bible/406/rom.9.30-32.ERV
“So one of you will ask me, “If God controls what we do, why does he blame us for our sins?”
Don’t ask that. You are only human and have no right to question God. A clay jar does not question the one who made it. It does not say, “Why did you make me like this?”
The one who makes the jar can make anything he wants. He uses the same clay to make different things. He might make one thing for special purposes and another for daily use.”
https://bible.com/bible/406/rom.9.19-21.ERV
“So what does this mean? That God is not fair? We cannot say that. God said to Moses, “I will show mercy to anyone I want to show mercy to. I will show pity to anyone I choose.”
So God will choose anyone he decides to show mercy to, and his choice does not depend on what people want or try to do.”
https://bible.com/bible/406/rom.9.14-16.ERV
“And that is not all. Rebecca also had sons, and they had the same father. He is our father Isaac.
But before the two sons were born, God told Rebecca, “The older son will serve the younger.” This was before the boys had done anything good or bad.
God said this before they were born so that the boy he wanted would be chosen because of God’s own plan. He was chosen because he was the one God wanted to call, not because of anything the boys did.”
https://bible.com/bible/406/rom.9.10-12.ERV
“This means that not all of Abraham’s descendants are God’s true children. Abraham’s true children are those who become God’s children because of the promise he made to Abraham.
Here is what God said in that promise: “About this time next year I will come back, and Sarah will have a son.””
https://bible.com/bible/406/rom.9.8-9.ERV
“Yes, I am sure that nothing can separate us from God’s love—not death, life, angels, or ruling spirits. I am sure that nothing now, nothing in the future, no powers, nothing above us or nothing below us—nothing in the whole created world—will ever be able to separate us from the love God has shown us in Christ Jesus our Lord.”
https://bible.com/bible/406/rom.8.38-39.ERV
