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Take 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.
Romans 11:22 · Berean Standard Bible
Parallel translations
  • WEB See then the goodness and severity of God. Toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off.
  • KJV Behold therefore the goodness and severity of God: on them which fell, severity; but toward thee, goodness, if thou continue in his goodness: otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.
  • NKJV Therefore consider the goodness and severity of God: on those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in His goodness. Otherwise you also will be cut off.
  • NASB See then the kindness and severity of God: to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; for otherwise you too will be cut off.
  • NLT Notice how God is both kind and severe. He is severe toward those who disobeyed, but kind to you if you continue to trust in his kindness. But if you stop trusting, you also will be cut off.

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

Consider both God's kindness and severity: severity to those who fell, kindness to you, if you continue in it.

Overview

Paul holds together two aspects of God's character that must not be separated: his goodness toward those who trust him and his severity in judgment toward unbelief. The Gentiles' continued enjoyment of grace is bound up with continuing in faith, 'otherwise you also will be cut off.' Faithful interpreters take this as a real, searching warning that genuine, saving faith perseveres, consistent with God's preserving of his own.

Cross-references & the web

Cross-references · 31

  • Heb 3:14We have come to share in Christ if we hold firmly to the end the assurance we had at first.
  • Heb 3:6But Christ is faithful as the Son over God’s house. And we are His house, if we hold firmly to our confidence and the hope of which we boast.
  • 1 Cor 15:2By this gospel you are saved, if you hold firmly to the word I preached to you. Otherwise, you have believed in vain.
  • John 15:2He cuts off every branch in Me that bears no fruit, and every branch that does bear fruit, He prunes to make it even more fruitful.
  • Rev 2:5Therefore, keep in mind how far you have fallen. Repent and perform the deeds you did at first. But if you do not repent, I will come to you and remove your lampstand from its place.
  • Gal 6:9Let us not grow weary in well-doing, for in due time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.
  • Rom 2:4–5Or do you disregard the riches of His kindness, tolerance, and patience, not realizing that God’s kindness leads you to repentance?
  • Heb 10:35–39So do not throw away your confidence; it holds a great reward.
  • Rom 2:7To those who by perseverance in doing good seek glory, honor, and immortality, He will give eternal life.
  • Jude 1:20–21But you, beloved, by building yourselves up in your most holy faith and praying in the Holy Spirit,
  • Rom 9:22–23What if God, intending to show His wrath and make His power known, bore with great patience the vessels of His wrath, prepared for destruction?
  • Acts 14:22strengthening the souls of the disciples and encouraging them to continue in the faith. “We must endure many hardships to enter the kingdom of God,” they said.
  • Heb 10:23Let us hold resolutely to the hope we profess, for He who promised is faithful.
  • John 8:31So He said to the Jews who had believed Him, “If you continue in My word, you are truly My disciples.
  • Isa 66:14When you see, you will rejoice, and you will flourish like grass; then the hand of the LORD will be revealed to His servants, but His wrath will be shown to His enemies.
  • Ezek 33:17–19Yet your people say, ‘The way of the Lord is not just.’ But it is their way that is not just.
  • Luke 8:15But the seeds on good soil are those with a noble and good heart, who hear the word, cling to it, and by persevering produce a crop.
  • Acts 11:23When he arrived and saw the grace of God, he rejoiced and encouraged them all to abide in the Lord with all their hearts.
  • Matt 3:9–10And do not presume to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.
  • 1 Th 3:8For now we can go on living, as long as you are standing firm in the Lord.
  • Ezek 18:24But if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and practices iniquity, committing the same abominations as the wicked, will he live? None of the righteous acts he did will be remembered. Because of the unfaithfulness and sin he has committed, he will die.
  • Ezek 3:20Now if a righteous man turns from his righteousness and commits iniquity, and I put a stumbling block before him, he will die. If you did not warn him, he will die in his sin, and the righteous acts he did will not be remembered. And I will hold you responsible for his blood.
  • Deut 32:39–43See now that I am He; there is no God besides Me. I bring death and I give life; I wound and I heal, and there is no one who can deliver from My hand.
  • Ps 58:10–11The righteous will rejoice when they see they are avenged; they will wash their feet in the blood of the wicked.
  • Num 14:18–22‘The LORD is slow to anger and abounding in loving devotion, forgiving iniquity and transgression. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers upon their children to the third and fourth generation.’
  • Josh 23:15–16But just as every good thing the LORD your God promised you has come to pass, likewise the LORD will bring upon you the calamity He has threatened, until He has destroyed you from this good land He has given you.
  • Ps 136:15–22but swept Pharaoh and his army into the Red Sea. His loving devotion endures forever.
  • 1 Th 3:5For this reason, when I could bear it no longer, I sent to find out about your faith, for fear that the tempter had somehow tempted you and caused our labor to be in vain.
  • John 15:4–10Remain in Me, and I will remain in you. Just as no branch can bear fruit by itself unless it remains in the vine, neither can you bear fruit unless you remain in Me.
  • Ps 78:49–52He unleashed His fury against them, wrath, indignation, and calamity—a band of destroying angels.
  • 1 Jn 2:19They went out from us, but they did not belong to us. For if they had belonged to us, they would have remained with us. But their departure made it clear that none of them belonged to us.

Themes, concepts, people & topics

Topics (2)

Resources, by level

Commentaries & study tools

  • VideoBibleProject — Romans videosBibleProject · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.

  • VideoWatch teaching on Romans 11:22YouTube · Lay · Free

    Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.

  • CommentaryEnduring Word — verse-by-verseDavid Guzik · Lay · Free · evangelical

    Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.

  • CommentaryClassic commentaries for this verseBibleHub (20+ works) · Pastoral · Free

    Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.

  • CommentaryMatthew Henry on RomansMatthew Henry · Pastoral · Free · evangelical

    The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).

  • ReferenceInterlinear, lexicon & Strong'sBlue Letter Bible · Seminary · Free

    Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.

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 11:22 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.