[11] Yet, before the twins were born or had done anything good or bad—in order that God’s purpose in election might stand: [12] not by works but by him who calls—she was told, “The older will serve the younger.” [13] Just as it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.” [14] What then shall we say? Is God unjust? Not at all! [15] For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” [16] It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. [17] For Scripture says to Pharaoh: “I raised you up for this very purpose, that I might display my power in you and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” [18] Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. [19] One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” [20] But who are you, a human being, to talk back to God? “Shall what is formed say to the one who formed it, ‘Why did you make me like this?’ ” [21] Does not the potter have the right to make out of the same lump of clay some pottery for special purposes and some for common use?
