Therefore God has mercy on whom He wants to have mercy, and He hardens whom He wants to harden.
Parallel translations
- WEB So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.
- KJV Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth.
- NKJV Therefore He has mercy on whom He wills, and whom He wills He hardens.
- NASB So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.
- NLT So you see, God chooses to show mercy to some, and he chooses to harden the hearts of others so they refuse to listen.
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 shows mercy to whomever he wills and hardens whomever he wills. Both mercy and judgment lie within his sovereign freedom.
Overview
Paul summarizes vv. 15-17: God freely shows mercy (as to Israel) and hardens (as with Pharaoh) according to his will. Faithful Christians note that Scripture also speaks of Pharaoh hardening his own heart, so God's hardening is a just judicial response that does not excuse human sin. The verse upholds God's sovereignty over both salvation and judgment while leaving human responsibility intact, themes Paul develops further in the verses that follow.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Exod 4:21The LORD instructed Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put within your power. But I will harden his heart so that he will not let the people go.
- Josh 11:20For it was of the LORD to harden their hearts to engage Israel in battle, so that they would be set apart for destruction and would receive no mercy, being annihilated as the LORD had commanded Moses.
- Rom 9:15–16For He says to Moses: “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.”
- Rom 11:7–8What then? What Israel was seeking, it failed to obtain, but the elect did. The others were hardened,
- 2 Th 2:10–12and with every wicked deception directed against those who are perishing, because they refused the love of the truth that would have saved them.
- Deut 2:30But Sihon king of Heshbon would not let us pass through, for the LORD your God had made his spirit stubborn and his heart obstinate, that He might deliver him into your hand, as is the case this day.
- Rom 5:20–21The law came in so that the trespass would increase; but where sin increased, grace increased all the more,
- Acts 28:26–28‘Go to this people and say, “You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.”
- Exod 7:13Still, Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
- Isa 63:17Why, O LORD, do You make us stray from Your ways and harden our hearts from fearing You? Return, for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.
- Rom 1:24–28Therefore God gave them over in the desires of their hearts to impurity for the dishonoring of their bodies with one another.
- Matt 13:14–15In them the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled: ‘You will be ever hearing but never understanding; you will be ever seeing but never perceiving.
- Eph 1:6to the praise of His glorious grace, which He has freely given us in the Beloved One.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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 9:18 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.