8. As it is written: “God has given them a spirit of slumber,eyes that would not seeand ears that would not hear,to this very day.”
9. And David says: “Let their table become a snare and a trap,a stumbling block and a retribution to them.
10. Let their eyes be darkened, so that they may not see,and always bow down their backs.”
11. I say then, have they stumbled that they should fall? God forbid! But through their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make them jealous.
12. Now if their transgression means riches for the world, and their failure means riches for the Gentiles, how much more will their fullness mean?
13. For I am speaking to you Gentiles. Inasmuch as I am the apostle to the Gentiles, I magnify my ministry,
14. if somehow I may make my kinsmen jealous and may save some of them.
15. For if their rejection means the reconciliation of the world, what will their acceptance mean but life from the dead?
16. If the first portion of the dough is holy, the batch is also holy. And if the root is holy, so are the branches.
17. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive shoot, were grafted in among them and became a partaker with them of the root and richness of the olive tree,
18. do not boast against the branches. If you boast, remember you do not sustain the root, but the root sustains you.
19. You will say then, “The branches were broken off, so that I might be grafted in.”
20. This is correct. They were broken off because of unbelief, but you stand by faith. Do not be arrogant, but fear.
21. For if God did not spare the natural branches, neither will He spare you.