Discovery BoxRomans 9:31-33 
Context9:31 but Israel even though pursuing 1 a law of righteousness 2 did not attain it. 3 9:32 Why not? Because they pursued 4 it not by faith but (as if it were possible) by works. 5 They stumbled over the stumbling stone, 6 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, 7
yet the one who believes in him will not be put to shame.” 8
1 tn Or “who pursued.” The participle could be taken adverbially or adjectivally.
2 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).
3 tn Grk “has not attained unto the law.”
4 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.
5 tc Most
tn Grk “but as by works.”
6 tn Grk “the stone of stumbling.”
7 tn Grk “a stone of stumbling and a rock of offense.”
8 sn A quotation from Isa 28:16; 8:14.
