Discovery BoxRomans 9:29-33 
Context9:29 Just 1 as Isaiah predicted,
“If the Lord of armies 2 had not left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom,
and we would have resembled Gomorrah.” 3
9:30 What shall we say then? – that the Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness obtained it, that is, a righteousness that is by faith, 9:31 but Israel even though pursuing 4 a law of righteousness 5 did not attain it. 6 9:32 Why not? Because they pursued 7 it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works. 8 They stumbled over the stumbling stone, 9 9:33 just as it is written,
“Look, I am laying in Zion a stone that will cause people to stumble
and a rock that will make them fall, 10
yet the one who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 11
1 tn Here καί (kai) has not been translated because of differences between Greek and English style.
2 tn Traditionally, “Lord of hosts”; Grk “Lord Sabaoth,” which means “Lord of the [heavenly] armies,” sometimes translated more generally as “Lord Almighty.”
3 sn A quotation from Isa 1:9.
4 tn Or “who pursued.” The participle could be taken adverbially or adjectivally.
5 tn Or “a legal righteousness,” that is, a righteousness based on law. This translation would treat the genitive δικαιοσύνης (dikaiosunh") as an attributed genitive (see ExSyn 89-91).
6 tn Grk “has not attained unto the law.”
7 tn Grk “Why? Because not by faith but as though by works.” The verb (“they pursued [it]”) is to be supplied from the preceding verse for the sake of English style; yet a certain literary power is seen in Paul’s laconic style.
8 tc Most
tn Grk “but as by works.”
9 tn Grk “the stone of stumbling.”
10 tn Grk “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”
11 sn A quotation from Isa 28:16; 8:14.
