You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.”
Parallel translations
- WEB You will say then, “Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.”
- KJV Thou wilt say then, The branches were broken off, that I might be graffed in.
- BSB You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I could be grafted in.”
- NKJV You will say then, “Branches were broken off that I might be grafted in.”
- NLT “Well,” you may say, “those branches were broken off to make room for me.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
A Gentile might argue that branches were broken off precisely so that he could be grafted in.
Overview
Paul anticipates a self-congratulatory objection: that Israel's rejection exists to make room for the Gentiles, implying Gentile superiority. He states the boast in order to answer and dismantle it in the verses following. The verse exposes a subtle pride that can creep in when one forgets that standing comes by grace alone.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 3
- Rom 11:23–24They also, if they don’t continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
- Rom 11:17But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree;
- Rom 11:11–12I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? May it never be! But by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy.
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Christ at the center
Paul unfolds the gospel in full: Christ our righteousness received by faith, the second Adam in whom many are made righteous, in whose death and resurrection we are buried and raised.
How Romans 11:19 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Greek word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.