Passage

Romans 11.14

Book: Romans · ASV / WEB / KJV / YLT

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

12. Now if their fall, is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? 13. But I speak to you that are Gentiles. Inasmuch then as I am an apostle of Gentiles, I glorify my ministry;

14. if by any means I may provoke to jealousy them that are my flesh, and may save some of them.

For if the casting away of them is the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? 16. And if the firstfruit is holy, so is the lump: and if the root is holy, so are the branches. (Romans 11:12-16, ASV)

WEB

12. Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness? 13. For I speak to you who are Gentiles. Since then as I am an apostle to Gentiles, I glorify my ministry;

14. if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and may save some of them.

For if the rejection of them is the reconciling of the world, what would their acceptance be, but life from the dead? 16. If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches. (Romans 11:12-16, WEB)

KJV

12. Now if the fall of them be the riches of the world, and the diminishing of them the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fulness? ^{diminishing: or, decay, or, loss} 13. For I speak to you Gentiles, inasmuch as I am the apostle of the Gentiles, I magnify mine office:

14. If by any means I may provoke to emulation them which are my flesh, and might save some of them.

For if the casting away of them be the reconciling of the world, what shall the receiving of them be, but life from the dead? 16. For if the firstfruit be holy, the lump is also holy: and if the root be holy, so are the branches. (Romans 11:12-16, KJV)

YLT

12. and if the fall of them [is] the riches of a world, and the diminution of them the riches of nations, how much more the fulness of them? 13. For to you I speak, to the nations, inasmuch as I am indeed an apostle of nations, my ministration I do glorify;

14. if by any means I shall arouse to jealousy mine own flesh, and shall save some of them,

for if the casting away of them [is] a reconciliation of the world, what the reception, if not life out of the dead? 16. and if the first-fruit [is] holy, the lump also; and if the root [is] holy, the branches also. (Romans 11:12-16, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: Paul the Apostle
Audience: the mixed Jewish and Gentile house churches at Rome, a congregation Paul had neither founded nor yet visited
Location: composed at Corinth, addressed to Rome
Time period: c. AD 57

Theological reading

If by any means I may provoke to jealousy them that are my flesh, and may save some of them. The verse is Paul's statement of personal missionary method, and two features of it are striking.

First, he describes his Gentile ministry as instrumental to his Jewish one. Verse 13 has him magnifying his office as apostle to the Gentiles, and verse 14 gives the reason: the visible flourishing of Gentile believers is itself an argument addressed to Israel. His two vocations are not in competition; the first serves the second.

Second, the goal is stated with unusual modesty: save some of them. Paul, who has just written that all Israel shall be saved at verse 26, sets his own expectation for his own labour at some. The same restraint appears at 1 Corinthians 9:22, that I may by all means save some. Whatever he believes about God's eventual purpose, he does not build his working expectations on it, and the two statements sit a dozen verses apart without embarrassment.

Them that are my flesh is the phrase that carries the emotional weight, and it should be read against 9:1-3, where Paul says he could wish himself accursed for their sake. The argument of chapters 9 to 11 is often handled as an abstract puzzle about election. It is framed at both ends by the grief of a man writing about his own people, and reading it without that frame produces the coldness that makes the doctrine repellent.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word; see Lexicon Roadmap.

G4982 - sozo, sozo, Strong's G4982
G4561 - sarx, sarx, Strong's G4561

Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Concepts:

Israel and the Church, via Romans 11.11-24

Lexicon:

Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.