Israel Is Not Cast Away

11 I say then, God has not rejected His people, has He? May it never be! For I too am an Israelite, ^[a]a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. ² 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? ³ “Lord, they have killed Your prophets, they have torn down Your altars, and I alone am left, and they are seeking my life.” ⁴ But what ^[b]is the divine response to him? “I have kept for Myself seven thousand men who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” ⁵ In the same way then, there has also come to be at the present time a remnant according to God’s ^[c]gracious choice. ⁶ But if it is by grace, it is no longer ^[d]on the basis of works, otherwise grace is no longer grace.

⁷ What then? What Israel is seeking, it has not obtained, but ^[e]those who were chosen obtained it, and the rest were hardened; ⁸ just as it is written,

⁹ And David says,

¹¹ I say then, they did not stumble so as to fall, did they? May it never be! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous. ¹² Now if their transgression is riches for the world and their failure is riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their ^[f]fulfillment be! ¹³ But I am speaking to you who are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I magnify my ministry, ¹⁴ if somehow I might move to jealousy my ^[g]fellow countrymen and save some of them. ¹⁵ For if their rejection is the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance be but life from the dead? ¹⁶ If the first piece of dough is holy, the lump is also; and if the root is holy, the branches are too.

¹⁷ But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them and became partaker with them of the ^[h]rich root of the olive tree, ¹⁸ do not be arrogant toward the branches; but if you are arrogant, remember that it is not you who supports the root, but the root supports you. ¹⁹ You will say then, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” ²⁰ Quite right, they were broken off for their unbelief, but you stand by your faith. Do not be conceited, but fear; ²¹ for if God did not spare the natural branches, He will not spare you, either. ²² Behold then the kindness and severity of God; to those who fell, severity, but to you, God’s kindness, if you continue in His kindness; otherwise you also will be cut off. ²³ And they also, if they do not continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. ²⁴ For if you were cut off from what is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these who are the natural branches be grafted into their own olive tree?

²⁵ For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery—so that you will not be wise in your own estimation—that a partial hardening has happened to Israel until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in; ²⁶ and so all Israel will be saved; just as it is written,

^28 [j]From the standpoint of the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but ^[k]from the standpoint of God’s choice they are beloved for the sake of the fathers; ²⁹ for the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. ³⁰ For just as you once were disobedient to God, but now have been shown mercy because of their disobedience, ³¹ so these also now have been disobedient, that because of the mercy shown to you they also may now be shown mercy. ³² For God has shut up all in disobedience so that He may show mercy to all.

³³ Oh, the depth of the riches ^[l]both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! ³⁴ For who has known the mind of the Lord, or who became His counselor? ³⁵ Or who has first given to Him ^[m]that it might be paid back to him again? ³⁶ For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory ^[n]forever. Amen.

Portion of the Levites

18 “The Levitical priests, the whole tribe of Levi, shall have no portion or inheritance with Israel; they shall eat the Lord’s offerings by fire and His ^[a]portion. ² They shall have no inheritance among their ^[b]countrymen; the Lord is their inheritance, as He ^[c]promised them.

³ “Now this shall be the priests’ due from the people, from those who offer a sacrifice, either an ox or a sheep, of which they shall give to the priest the shoulder and the two cheeks and the stomach. ⁴ You shall give him the first fruits of your grain, your new wine, and your oil, and the first shearing of your sheep. ⁵ For the Lord your God has chosen him and his sons from all your tribes, to stand ^[d]and serve in the name of the Lord forever.

⁶ “Now if a Levite comes from any of your ^[e]towns throughout Israel where he resides, and comes ^[f]whenever he desires to the place which the Lord chooses, ⁷ then he shall serve in the name of the Lord his God, like all his fellow Levites who stand there before the Lord. ⁸ They shall eat ^[g]equal portions, except what they receive from the sale of their fathers’ estates.

Spiritism Forbidden

⁹ “When you enter the land which the Lord your God gives you, you shall not learn to ^[h]imitate the detestable things of those nations. ¹⁰ There shall not be found among you anyone who makes his son or his daughter pass through the fire, one who uses divination, one who practices witchcraft, or one who interprets omens, or a sorcerer, ¹¹ or one who casts a spell, or a medium, or a spiritist, or one who calls up the dead. ¹² For whoever does these things is detestable to the Lord; and because of these detestable things the Lord your God will drive them out before you. ¹³ You shall be ^[i]blameless before the Lord your God. ¹⁴ For those nations, which you shall dispossess, listen to those who practice witchcraft and to diviners, but as for you, the Lord your God has not allowed you to do so.

¹⁵ “The Lord your God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among you, from your ^[j]countrymen, you shall listen to him. ¹⁶ This is according to all that you asked of the Lord your God in Horeb on the day of the assembly, saying, ‘Let me not hear again the voice of the Lord my God, let me not see this great fire anymore, or I will die.’ ¹⁷ The Lord said to me, ‘They have ^[k]spoken well. ¹⁸ I will raise up a prophet from among their ^[l]countrymen like you, and I will put My words in his mouth, and he shall speak to them all that I command him. ¹⁹ It shall come about that whoever will not listen to My words which he shall speak in My name, I Myself will require it of him. ²⁰ But the prophet who speaks a word presumptuously in My name which I have not commanded him to speak, or which he speaks in the name of other gods, ^[m]that prophet shall die.’ ^21 [n]You may say in your heart, ‘How will we know the word which the Lord has not spoken?’ ²² When a prophet speaks in the name of the Lord, if the thing does not come about or come true, that is the thing which the Lord has not spoken. The prophet has spoken it presumptuously; you shall not be afraid of him.