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:
Parallel translations
- WEB God didn’t reject his people, which he foreknew. Or don’t you know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel:
- KJV God hath not cast away his people which he foreknew. Wot ye not what the scripture saith of Elias? how he maketh intercession to God against Israel, saying,
- NKJV God has not cast away His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says of Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel, saying,
- NASB God has not rejected His people whom He foreknew. Or do you not know what the Scripture says in the passage about Elijah, how he pleads with God against Israel?
- NLT No, God has not rejected his own people, whom he chose from the very beginning. Do you realize what the Scriptures say about this? Elijah the prophet complained to God about the people of Israel and said,
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
God has not rejected Israel, the people he foreknew; Paul recalls Elijah, who thought he alone was faithful.
Overview
Paul answers his own question from verse 1 by appealing to God's prior, electing love ('foreknew') for his people. He introduces the example of Elijah (1 Kings 19), who pleaded against Israel believing himself the last faithful one. The verse sets up the principle that even in widespread unbelief God preserves a faithful remnant, which guards against the despairing conclusion that God's purposes have failed.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 20
- Ps 94:14For the LORD will not forsake His people; He will never abandon His heritage.
- Rom 8:29–30For those God foreknew, He also predestined to be conformed to the image of His Son, so that He would be the firstborn among many brothers.
- 1 Pet 1:2according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood: Grace and peace be yours in abundance.
- Acts 3:17And now, brothers, I know that you acted in ignorance, as did your leaders.
- Num 16:15Then Moses became very angry and said to the LORD, “Do not regard their offering. I have not taken one donkey from them or mistreated a single one of them.”
- Gen 44:15“What is this deed you have done?” Joseph declared. “Do you not know that a man like me can surely divine the truth?”
- Exod 32:1Now when the people saw that Moses was delayed in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this Moses who brought us up out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him!”
- Rom 9:23What if He did this to make the riches of His glory known to the vessels of His mercy, whom He prepared in advance for glory—
- Acts 7:40They said to Aaron, ‘Make us gods who will go before us! As for this Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we do not know what has happened to him.’
- Acts 13:48When the Gentiles heard this, they rejoiced and glorified the word of the Lord, and all who were appointed for eternal life believed.
- Rom 9:6It is not as though God’s word has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
- Neh 9:30You were patient with them for many years, and Your Spirit admonished them through Your prophets. Yet they would not listen, so You gave them into the hands of the neighboring peoples.
- Heb 1:1On many past occasions and in many different ways, God spoke to our fathers through the prophets.
- John 4:11“Sir,” the woman replied, “You have nothing to draw with and the well is deep. Where then will You get this living water?
- Acts 15:18that have been known for ages.’
- John 4:1–3When Jesus realized that the Pharisees were aware He was gaining and baptizing more disciples than John
- Jer 18:19–23Attend to me, O LORD. Hear what my accusers are saying!
- Luke 4:1Then Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the Jordan and was led by the Spirit into the wilderness,
- Phil 1:22But if I go on living in the body, this will mean fruitful labor for me. So what shall I choose? I do not know.
- 1 Cor 6:2Do you not know that the saints will judge the world? And if you are to judge the world, are you not competent to judge trivial cases?
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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 11:2 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
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