From a letter written by the apostle Paul
to believers in Rome
What shall we say then? Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid. For he saith to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion. So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy. For the scripture saith unto Pharaoh, Even for this same purpose have I raised thee up, that I might shew my power in thee, and that my name might be declared throughout all the earth. Therefore hath he mercy on whom he will have mercy, and whom he will he hardeneth. Thou wilt say then unto me, Why doth he yet find fault? For who hath resisted his will? Nay but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say to him that formed it, Why hast thou made me thus? Hath not the potter power over the clay, of the same lump to make one vessel unto honour, and another unto dishonour? What if God, willing to shew his wrath, and to make his power known, endured with much longsuffering the vessels of wrath fitted to destruction: And that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory, Even us, whom he hath called, not of the Jews only, but also of the Gentiles?-Romans 9:14-24***Paul (Saul) was an Israelite, a Pharisee and a Roman citizen from the tribe of Benjamin. Benjamin was the 2nd and last son born to Jacob and his 2nd wife Rachel. Rachel and her older sister Leah were the daughters of Laban the Syrian (Aramean), and Leah was Jacob's 1st wife. Laban and Rebekah were born to Bethuel the Syrian (Aramean). Bethuel was born to Nahor (Nachor) and Milcah. Milcah and Lot were born to Haran. Haran, Nahor, Abraham (Abram the Hebrew), and Sarah (Sarai) were born to Terah. Terah was the great-great-great-great-great-grandson of Arphaxad. Arphaxad was born to Shem, and Shem was born to Noah the ark builder, and Noah was the great-grandson of Enoch, and Enoch was the great-great-great-grandson of Seth, and Seth was born to 130-year-old Adam and Eve. Adam was the 1st man. The divinely inspired Scriptures of the Holy Bible reveal that the Lord God created the heavens and the earth in the beginning, and on the 6th day the Lord God created Adam, and on the 7th day the Lord God rested and was refreshed. The Lord God formed Adam from the dust of the ground, and the Lord God made Adam's wife Eve, the mother of all living, after taking a part out of Adam. The Lord God blessed them, and gave them commands, and gave Adam commands about the trees in the Garden of Eden. Eve was deceived, and Adam listened to Eve and disobeyed the command of the Lord God. Sin entered into the world through Adam and death entered through sin. Sometime after the Lord God sent Adam out of the Garden of Eden, Cain and Abel were born to Adam and Eve, and sometime after Cain killed Abel, Seth was born. In Padan Aram, Haran, Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and daughter Dinah were born to Jacob and Leah. Dan and Naphtali were born to Jacob and Bilhah, Rachel's maidservant. Gad and Asher were born to Jacob and Zilpah, Leah's maidservant. Joseph was the 1st son born to Jacob and Rachel, and Rachel and Joseph were Jacob's favorites. During Jacob's 20th year in Haran, he began journeying home to Canaan with his family, servants, animals, and possessions. Near Bethlehem, Benjamin was born and Rachel died. Joseph was 17 years old when his brothers sold him to merchants traveling to Egypt and led Jacob to believe that Joseph was killed by a wild beast, and Joseph was 30 years old when Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, proclaimed him second-in-command. Jacob was 130 years old when he moved with his family from Canaan to Egypt. In Egypt, Jacob proclaimed Manasseh and Ephraim, the sons born to Joseph and his wife Asenath, to be his own sons, and the tribe of Joseph became the tribe of Manasseh and the tribe of Ephraim. Sometime after 147-year-old Jacob died in Egypt, and Jacob's family buried his body in Canaan, and 110-year-old Joseph and his siblings were dead, the Israelites were enslaved in Egypt. Miriam and her younger brother Aaron and their new baby brother were born into the tribe of Levi to Amram and Jochebed. Amram and Jochebed kept their new baby hidden from the murderous intentions of Pharaoh. When the baby was 3 months old, Jochebed placed him in a specially prepared ark and put the ark amid the vegetation by the river. Miriam watched Pharaoh's daughter send a maidservant to get the ark, and Miriam spoke with Pharaoh's daughter, and arrangements were made for Jochebed to be hired as the wet nurse for the baby. After the child was weaned, Jochebed took him to Pharaoh's daughter, and Pharaoh's daughter named the child Moses, and Moses lived as her son. When Moses was 40 years old, he killed an Egyptian and hid the body, and the murder was mentioned to Moses, and Pharaoh wanted to kill Moses, and Moses bolted from Egypt and began living in Midian, and was married to Zipporah, the daughter of Jethro (Reuel), a Midianite descended from Abraham and his 2nd wife Keturah and their son Midian. Moses was 80 years old and herding Jethro's sheep amid the region of Mount Horeb (Sinai), the mountain of God, when he saw a fiery sight and heard the Lord God call his name. Moses answered the Lord God, and the Lord God gave Moses a command, and the Lord God told Moses that he was sending Moses to Pharaoh and Moses was to bring the Israelites to a land flowing with milk and honey and inhabited by idolaters. Moses spoke about his personal inabilities, and the Lord God spoke to Moses about Aaron, and the Lord God told Moses that he would harden Pharaoh's heart and Pharaoh would not let the Israelites leave. Aaron was approaching, and the Lord God sent Moses and 83-year-old Aaron to speak to the Israelite elders and Pharaoh. The elders believed the words of the Lord God spoken by Aaron. Pharaoh did not believe, and he made work for the Israelites more difficult. Before the Lord God gave Moses and Aaron a command about Aaron's rod, the Lord God told Moses that he would harden Pharaoh's heart. After the Lord God brought the 10th and final plague upon Pharaoh and Egypt, Pharaoh told Moses and Aaron to get the Israelites and their animals and go worship the Lord God. Moreover, Pharaoh told Moses and Aaron to bless him. Before Moses and Aaron led the Israelites, and those with them, away from Egypt, the Israelites asked for and were given an abundance of valuable goods, fulfilling the words that the Lord God spoke to Abraham. In Etham, the Lord God gave Moses instructions about the route to take, and the Lord God told Moses about the mistaken thought Pharaoh would have, and the Lord God told Moses that he would harden Pharaoh's heart. Near the Red Sea, the Israelites saw Pharaoh and his army, and the Israelites cried out to the Lord God and questioned Moses. Moses spoke to the Israelites, and the Lord God spoke to Moses and gave Moses a command and said that he would harden the heart of the Egyptians. Moses obeyed the command of the Lord God, and the Lord God drove back the sea by a strong east wind, and the waters were divided, and the Israelites, and those with them, walked across on the dry bed. In the morning, the Lord God caused a calamity among the Egyptians, and Moses obeyed the command of the Lord God, and the Red Sea returned to its strength, and the Egyptian army, including the horsemen, drowned. Moses and the Israelites sang a song to the Lord God, and Miriam and the women with her danced, holding timbrels (hand drums) in their hands. Moses and Aaron led the Israelites into the desert wilderness of Shur, and the desert wilderness of Sin. In the desert wilderness of Sinai, in the region of Mount Sinai, the Israelites heard the voice of the Lord God proclaim the Ten Commandments to them, and the Lord God began giving Moses judgments, statutes and laws for the Israelites, and the Lord God made a covenant with the Israelites, and the Israelites said they would obey the words of the Lord God. When Moses was upon Mount Sinai 40 days and nights with the Lord God, the Lord God gave Moses commands about the offering willing Israelites were to bring, and the Lord God described to Moses and showed Moses the likeness of the tabernacle, and the ark of the covenant of the Lord, and the other sacred items the Israelites were commanded to make, and the Lord God told Moses that only Aaron, and Aaron's sons and the sons born to their descendants were to serve the Lord God as priests. Meanwhile, the Israelites thought they were abandoned and told Aaron to make gods to lead them. Aaron told the Israelites to bring him their gold earrings, and Aaron made a golden calf that the Israelites sacrificed to and worshiped, and Moses burned and ground. During the 40-year journey to Canaan, the Promised Land, Miriam the prophetess died and was buried in Kadesh, in the desert wilderness of Zin. Upon Mount Hor, 123-year-old Aaron the high priest died. When Mount went upon Mount Nebo, the Lord God showed Moses the Promised Land, and 120-year-old Moses the prophet died, and was divinely buried. Joshua, Moses' aide and successor from the tribe of Ephraim, led the Israelites across the divinely parted Jordan River and onto the land that the Lord God promised to give to Abraham, and Isaac, and to Jacob, and their descendants. Over 1,300 years after 110-year-old Joshua died, and was buried in his tribe's portion of the Promised Land, the angel Gabriel appeared to elderly, childless Zechariah (Zacharias) the priest and told Zechariah that his prayer was heard, and told him about the conception, birth and purpose of the son who would be born to Zechariah and his wife Elizabeth (Elisabeth). The angel Gabriel told Zechariah to name the child John, and said the birth of John was going to cause rejoicing and gladness, and John would be great in the eyes of the Lord, and would be filled with the Holy Spirit (Holy Ghost) while in Elizabeth's womb, and would bring many Israelites back to the Lord, and prepare people for the Lord. During the 6th month that elderly Elizabeth was carrying John the Baptist in her womb, the Lord God sent the angel Gabriel to Elizabeth's relative Mary, a virgin. The angel Gabriel said Mary was favored with grace, and the Lord was with Mary, and Mary was blessed among women. The angel Gabriel told Mary not to fear, and said Mary had favor with the Lord God, and Mary would give birth to a Son, and Mary was to name the Son Jesus, and Jesus, the Son of the Highest (the Most High), would be conceived of the Holy Spirit in Mary's womb. Joseph was the craftsman pledged to wed Mary. After Jesus was conceived of the Holy Spirit in Mary's womb when Mary was a virgin, an angel of the Lord appeared to Joseph when Joseph was asleep and told Joseph, in a dream, not to be afraid to receive Mary as his wife, and explained that the child in Mary's womb was conceived of the Holy Spirit, and Joseph was to name the Son Jesus, and Jesus will save his people from their sins. Months after John the Baptist was born into the tribe of Levi to Zechariah and Elizabeth, Jesus, the Christ, the Son of God, was born in Bethlehem into the tribe of Judah to Mary and her husband Joseph when Mary was a virgin. On the 8th day after John the Baptist was born, he was circumcised, and on the 8th day after Jesus the Christ was born, Jesus was circumcised, according to the covenant of circumcision that the Lord God gave Abraham. During the 12th year after John the Baptist and Jesus the Christ were born, Joseph and Mary found Jesus in Jerusalem, in the temple of the Lord, listening, asking, understanding, and answering. Approximately 30 years after John the Baptist and Jesus the Christ were born, Jesus was baptized in the Jordan River by John the Baptist. Jesus having prayed, the heavens tearing open, the Holy Spirit descended as a dove and lit upon Jesus. The Lord God in heaven audibly acknowledged his Son Jesus, and the Holy Spirit led Jesus into the desert wilderness. Jesus fasted 40 days and nights and was tempted. Afterwards, Jesus was tended to by angels, and Jesus went to the area near John the Baptist, and John the Baptist proclaimed Jesus to be the Lamb of God taking away the sin of the world, and testified that Jesus is the Son of God. In Galilee, Jesus told specific Israelite men to follow him, and Jesus began to preach, teach and perform miracles among the Israelites. Less than 3 1/2 years after Jesus was baptized, Jesus was betrayed by Judas Iscariot the disciple and apostle, and Jesus was arrested, crucified, buried in a tomb, resurrected, seen by over 500 people, and taken up into heaven. Paul did not believe Jesus to be the Christ. Throughout Jerusalem, Paul persecuted and imprisoned Israelites who believed Jesus to be the Christ of God. When Paul was journeying to the synagogues in Damascus, Syria, to find, bind and take to Jerusalem any Israelite believers he found, Paul and those with him saw a light from heaven flash around them. Paul heard the voice of Jesus speaking to him, and Paul spoke to Jesus, and obeyed Jesus. In Damascus Paul was baptized. From thenceforward, Paul the apostle journeyed and wrote divinely inspired letters, teaching Israelites and Gentiles, people not born into the Israelite tribes, the good news of Jesus the Christ, and everlasting life, and the relationship of the Lord God with Israelites and Gentiles.-Genesis, Exodus, Numbers 13:1-14:45, 20:1-29, 26:1-27:23, Deuteronomy 31:1-34:12, Joshua, Judges 1:1-2:23, Ruth, 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, 2 Kings, 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, Ezra 1:1-11, Isaiah 1:1-31, 29:1-30:33, 41:1-29, 45:1-25, 64:1-12, Jeremiah 39:1-18, 52:1-34, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts 1:1-26, Romans, 1 Corinthians, 2 Corinthians, Galatians, Ephesians, Philippians, Colossians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Thessalonians, 1 Timothy, 2 Timothy, Tiusus, Philemon
Reference Information
fitted = katertismena = prepared, adjusted
vessels = skeue/skeuos = container, instrument, object
Reference Scriptures
And the LORD said unto Moses, Rise up early in the morning, and stand before Pharaoh, and say unto him, Thus saith the LORD God of the Hebrews, Let my people go, that they may serve me.-Exodus 9:13...And in very deed for this cause have I raised thee up, for to shew in thee my power; and that my name may be declared throughout all the earth.-Exodus 9:16
Woe unto them that seek deep to hide their counsel from the LORD, and their works are in the dark, and they say, Who seeth us? and who knoweth us? Surely your turning of things upside down shall be esteemed as the potter's clay: for shall the work say of him that made it, He made me not? or shall the thing framed say of him that framed it, He had no understanding?-Isaiah 29:15-16
Woe unto him that striveth with his Maker! Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth. Shall the clay say to him that fashioneth it, What makest thou? pr they work, He hath no hands?-Isaiah 45:9
Then the word of the LORD came to me, saying, O house of Israel, cannot I do with you as this potter? saith the LORD. Behold, as the clay is in the potter's hand, so are ye in mine hand, O house of Israel.-Jeremiah 18:5-6
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