Dico ergo: Numquid Deus repulit populum suum? Absit. Nam et ego Israëlita sum ex semine Abraham, de tribu Benjamin:

I say then: Hath God cast away his people? God forbid. For I also am an Israelite of the seed of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin.

Tell me, then, has God disowned his people? That is not to be thought of. Why, I am an Israelite myself, descended from Abraham; Benjamin is my tribe.

non repulit Deus plebem suam, quam præscivit. An nescitis in Elia quid dicit Scriptura? quemadmodum interpellat Deum adversum Israël:

God hath not cast away his people, which he foreknew. Know you not what the scripture saith of Elias; how he calleth on God against Israel?

No, God has not disowned the people which, from the first, he recognized as his. Do you not remember what scripture tells us about Elias? The complaint, I mean, which he made before God about Israel:

Domine, prophetas tuos occiderunt, altaria tua suffoderunt: et ego relictus sum solus, et quærunt animam meam.

Lord, they have slain thy prophets, they have dug down thy altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.

Lord, they have killed thy prophets, and overthrown thy altars; I am the only one left, and my life, too, is threatened.

Sed quid dicit illi divinum responsum? Reliqui mihi septem millia virorum, qui non curvaverunt genua ante Baal.

But what saith the divine answer to him? I have left me seven thousand men, that have not bowed their knees to Baal.

And what does the divine revelation tell him? There are seven thousand men I have kept true to myself, with knees that never bowed to Baal.

Sic ergo et in hoc tempore reliquiæ secundum electionem gratiæ salvæ factæ sunt.

Even so then at this present time also, there is a remnant saved according to the election of grace.

So it is in our time; a remnant has remained true; grace has chosen it.

Si autem gratia, jam non ex operibus: alioquin gratia jam non est gratia.

And if by grace, it is not now by works: otherwise grace is no more grace.

And if it is due to grace, then it is not due to observance of the law; if it were, grace would be no grace at all.

Quid ergo? Quod quærebat Israël, hoc non est consecutus: electio autem consecuta est: ceteri vero excæcati sunt:

What then? That which Israel sought, he hath not obtained: but the election hath obtained it; and the rest have been blinded.

What does it mean, then? Why, that Israel has missed its mark; only this chosen remnant has attained it, while the rest were blinded;

sicut scriptum est: Dedit illis Deus spiritum compunctionis: oculos ut non videant, et aures ut non audiant, usque in hodiernum diem.

As it is written: God hath given them the spirit of insensibility; eyes that they should not see; and ears that they should not hear, until this present day.

so we read in scripture, God has numbed their senses, given them unseeing eyes and deaf ears, to this day.

Et David dicit: Fiat mensa eorum in laqueum, et in captionem, et in scandalum, et in retributionem illis.

And David saith: Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, and a stumbling- block, and a recompense unto them.

David, too, says, Let their feasting be turned into a trap, a snare, a spring to recoil upon them;

Obscurentur oculi eorum ne videant: et dorsum eorum semper incurva.

Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see: and bow down their back always.

let their eyes be dim, so that they cannot see, keep their backs bowed down continually.

Dico ergo: Numquid sic offenderunt ut caderent? Absit. Sed illorum delicto, salus est gentibus ut illos æmulentur.

I say then, have they so stumbled, that they should fall? God forbid. But by their offence, salvation is come to the Gentiles, that they may be emulous of them.

Tell me, then, have they stumbled so as to fall altogether? God forbid; the result of their false step has been to bring the Gentiles salvation, and the result of that must be to rouse the Jews to emulate them.

Quod si delictum illorum divitiæ sunt mundi, et diminutio eorum divitiæ gentium: quanto magis plenitudo eorum?

Now if the offence of them be the riches of the world, and the diminution of them, the riches of the Gentiles; how much more the fulness of them?

Why then, if their false step has enriched the world, if the Gentiles have been enriched by their default, what must we expect, when it is made good?

Vobis enim dico gentibus: Quamdiu quidem ego sum gentium Apostolus, ministerium meum honorificabo,

For I say to you, Gentiles: as long indeed as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I will honour my ministry,

(I am speaking now to you Gentiles.) As long as my apostolate is to the Gentiles, I mean to make much of my office,

si quomodo ad æmulandum provocem carnem meam, et salvos faciam aliquos ex illis.

If, by any means, I may provoke to emulation them who are my flesh, and may save some of them.

in the hope of stirring up my own flesh and blood to emulation, and saving some of them.

Si enim amissio eorum, reconciliatio est mundi: quæ assumptio, nisi vita ex mortuis?

For if the loss of them be the reconciliation of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead?

If the losing of them has meant a world reconciled to God, what can the winning of them mean, but life risen from the dead?

Quod si delibatio sancta est, et massa: et si radix sancta, et rami.

For if the firstfruit be holy, so is the lump also: and if the root be holy, so are the branches.

When the first loaf is consecrated, the whole batch is consecrated with it; so, when the root is consecrated, the branches are consecrated too.

Quod si aliqui ex ramis fracti sunt, tu autem cum oleaster esses, insertus es in illis, et socius radicis, et pinguedinis olivæ factus es,

And if some of the branches be broken, and thou, being a wild olive, art ingrafted in them, and art made partaker of the root, and of the fatness of the olive tree,

The branches have been thinned out, and thou, a wild olive, hast been grafted in among them; sharest, with them, the root and the richness of the true olive.

noli gloriari adversus ramos. Quod si gloriaris: non tu radicem portas, sed radix te.

Boast not against the branches. But if thou boast, thou bearest not the root, but the root thee.

That is no reason why thou shouldst boast thyself better than the branches; remember, in thy mood of boastfulness, that thou owest life to the root, not the root to thee.

Dices ergo: Fracti sunt rami ut ego inserar.

Thou wilt say then: The branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.

Branches were cut away, thou wilt tell me, so that I might be grafted in.

Bene: propter incredulitatem fracti sunt. Tu autem fide stas: noli altum sapere, sed time.

Well: because of unbelief they were broken off. But thou standest by faith: be not highminded, but fear.

True enough, but it was for want of faith that they were cut away, and it is only faith that keeps thee where thou art; thou hast no reason for pride, rather for fear;

Si enim Deus naturalibus ramis non pepercit: ne forte nec tibi parcat.

For if God hath not spared the natural branches, fear lest perhaps he also spare not thee.

God was unforgiving with the branches that were native to the tree, what if he should find occasion to be unforgiving with thee too?

Vide ergo bonitatem, et severitatem Dei: in eos quidem qui ceciderunt, severitatem: in te autem bonitatem Dei, si permanseris in bonitate, alioquin et tu excideris.

See then the goodness and the severity of God: towards them indeed that are fallen, the severity; but towards thee, the goodness of God, if thou abide in goodness, otherwise thou also shalt be cut off.

There is graciousness, then, in God, and there is also severity. His severity is for those who have fallen away, his graciousness is for thee, only so long as thou dost continue in his grace; if not, thou too shalt be pruned away.

Sed et illi, si non permanserint in incredulitate, inserentur: potens est enim Deus iterum inserere illos.

And they also, if they abide not still in unbelief, shall be grafted in: for God is able to graft them in again.

Just so they too will be grafted in, if they do not continue in their unbelief; to graft them in afresh is not beyond God’s power.

Nam si tu ex naturali excisus es oleastro, et contra naturam insertus es in bonam olivam: quanto magis ii qui secundum naturam inserentur suæ olivæ?

For if thou wert cut out of the wild olive tree, which is natural to thee; and, contrary to nature, were grafted into the good olive tree; how much more shall they that are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree?

Indeed, it was against nature when thou wast grafted on to the true olive’s stock, thou, who wert native to the wild olive; it will be all the easier for him to graft these natural branches on to their own parent stock.

Nolo enim vos ignorare, fratres, mysterium hoc (ut non sitis vobis ipsis sapientes), quia cæcitas ex parte contigit in Israël, donec plenitudo gentium intraret,

For I would not have you ignorant, brethren, of this mystery, (lest you should be wise in your own conceits), that blindness in part has happened in Israel, until the fulness of the Gentiles should come in.

I must not fail, brethren, to make this revelation known to you; or else you might have too good a conceit of yourselves. Blindness has fallen upon a part of Israel, but only until the tale of the Gentile nations is complete;

et sic omnis Israël salvus fieret, sicut scriptum est: Veniet ex Sion, qui eripiat, et avertat impietatem a Jacob.

And so all Israel should be saved, as it is written: There shall come out of Sion, he that shall deliver, and shall turn away ungodliness from Jacob.

then the whole of Israel will find salvation, as we read in scripture, A deliverer shall come from Sion, to rid Jacob of his unfaithfulness;

Et hoc illis a me testamentum: cum abstulero peccata eorum.

And this is to them my covenant: when I shall take away their sins.

and this shall be the fulfilment of my covenant with them, when I take away their sins.

Secundum Evangelium quidem, inimici propter vos: secundum electionem autem, carissimi propter patres.

As concerning the gospel, indeed, they are enemies for your sake: but as touching the election, they are most dear for the sake of the fathers.

In the preaching of the gospel, God rejects them, to make room for you; but in his elective purpose he still welcomes them, for the sake of their fathers;

Sine pœnitentia enim sunt dona et vocatio Dei.

For the gifts and the calling of God are without repentance.

God does not repent of the gifts he makes, or of the calls he issues.

Sicut enim aliquando et vos non credidistis Deo, nunc autem misericordiam consecuti estis propter incredulitatem illorum:

For as you also in times past did not believe God, but now have obtained mercy, through their unbelief;

You were once rebels, until through their rebellion you obtained pardon;

ita et isti nunc non crediderunt in vestram misericordiam: ut et ipsi misericordiam consequantur.

So these also now have not believed, for your mercy, that they also may obtain mercy.

they are rebels now, obtaining pardon for you, only to be pardoned in their turn.

Conclusit enim Deus omnia in incredulitate, ut omnium misereatur.

For God hath concluded all in unbelief, that he may have mercy on all.

Thus God has abandoned all men to their rebellion, only to include them all in his pardon.

O altitudo divitiarum sapientiæ, et scientiæ Dei: quam incomprehensibilia sunt judicia ejus, et investigabiles viæ ejus!

O the depth of the riches of the wisdom and of the knowledge of God! How incomprehensible are his judgments, and how unsearchable his ways!

How deep is the mine of God’s wisdom, of his knowledge; how inscrutable are his judgements, how undiscoverable his ways!

Quis enim cognovit sensum Domini? aut quis consiliarius ejus fuit?

For who hath known the mind of the Lord? Or who hath been his counsellor?

Who has ever understood the Lord’s thoughts, or been his counsellor?

aut quis prior dedit illi, et retribuetur ei?

Or who hath first given to him, and recompense shall be made him?

Who ever was the first to give, and so earned his favours?

Quoniam ex ipso, et per ipsum, et in ipso sunt omnia: ipsi gloria in sæcula. Amen.

For of him, and by him, and in him, are all things: to him be glory for ever. Amen.

All things find in him their origin, their impulse, the centre of their being; to him be glory throughout all ages, Amen.