Romans 9:11-22

¹¹for though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything good or bad, so that God’s purpose according to His choice would stand, not because of works but because of Him who calls, ¹²it was said to her, “The older will serve the younger.” ¹³Just as it is written: “Jacob I have loved, but Esau I have hated.”

¹⁴What shall we say then? There is no injustice with God, is there? Far from it! ¹⁵For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I have mercy, and I will show compassion to whomever I show compassion.” ¹⁶So then, it does not depend on the person who wants it nor the one who runs, but on God who has mercy. ¹⁷For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very reason I raised you up, in order to demonstrate My power in you, and that My name might be proclaimed throughout the earth.” ¹⁸So then He has mercy on whom He desires, and He hardens whom He desires.

¹⁹You will say to me then, “Why does He still find fault? For who has resisted His will?” ²⁰On the contrary, who are you, you foolish person, who answers back to God? The thing molded will not say to the molder, “Why did you make me like this,” will it? ²¹Or does the potter not have a right over the clay, to make from the same lump one object for honorable use, and another for common use? ²²What if God, although willing to demonstrate His wrath and to make His power known, endured with great patience objects of wrath prepared for destruction?