1Brothers and sisters, the thing I want most is for all the Jews to be saved. That is my prayer to God.
2I can say this about the Jews: They really try to follow God. But they don’t know the right way.
3They did not know the way that God makes people right with him. And they tried to make themselves right in their own way. So they did not accept God’s way of making people right.
4Christ ended the law so that every person that believes in him is made right with God.
5Moses writes about being made right by following the law. Moses says, “A person that wants to find life by following these things (the law) must do the things the law says.”
6But this is what the Scripture
7“And don’t say, ‘Who will go down into the world below?’”
8This is what the Scripture says: “God’s teaching is near you; it is in your mouth and in your heart.”
9If you openly say, “Jesus is Lord,” and if you believe in your heart that God raised Jesus from death, then you will be saved.
10Yes, we believe with our heart, and so we are made right with God. And we use our mouth to say that we believe, and so we are saved.
11Yes, the Scripture
12That Scripture says “any person” because there is no difference between Jew and non-Jew. The same Lord is the Lord of all people. The Lord gives many blessings to all people that trust in him.
13Yes, {the Scripture says,} “Every person that trusts in the Lord will be saved.”
14But before people can trust in the Lord for help, they must believe in him. And before people can believe in the Lord, they must hear about him. And for people to hear about the Lord, another person must tell them.
15And before a person can go and tell them, that person must be sent. Like the Scriptures
16But not all {the Jews} accepted that good news. Isaiah said, “Lord, who believed the things we told them?”
17So faith comes from hearing {the Good News
18But I ask, “Did people not hear {the Good News} ?” Yes, they heard—{like the Scripture
19Again I ask, “Did the people of Israel
20Then Isaiah is bold enough to say this {for God}: “The people that were not looking for me— those people found me. I showed myself to people that did not ask for me.” Isaiah 65:1
21{God said this through Isaiah about the non-Jewish people.} But about the Jewish people God says, “All day long I have waited for those people, but they refuse to obey and refuse to follow me.”