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- I ask then: Did God reject his people? By no means! I am an Israelite myself, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.
- God did not reject his people, whom he foreknew. Don't you know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah--how he appealed to God against Israel:
- "Lord, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars; I am the only one left, and they are trying to kill me"?
- And what was God's answer to him? "I have reserved for myself seven thousand who have not bowed the knee to Baal."
- So too, at the present time there is a remnant chosen by grace.
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- And if by grace, then it is no longer by works; if it were, grace would no longer be grace.
- What then? What Israel sought so earnestly it did not obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened,
- as it is written: "God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes so that they could not see and ears so that they could not hear, to this very day."
- And David says: "May their table become a snare and a trap, a stumbling block and a retribution for them.
- May their eyes be darkened so they cannot see, and their backs be bent forever."
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- Again I ask: Did they stumble so as to fall beyond recovery? Not at all! Rather, because of their transgression, salvation has come to the Gentiles to make Israel envious.
- But if their transgression means riches for the world, and their loss means riches for the Gentiles, how much greater riches will their fullness bring!
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