1 I ask then, did God reject His people? Certainly not! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
2 God 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:
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”?
4 And what was the divine reply to him? “I have reserved for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.”
5 In the same way, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
6 And if it is by grace, then it is no longer by works. Otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.
7 What then? What Israel was seeking, it failed to obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened,
8 as 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.”
9 And David says: “May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution to them.
10 May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever.”