Then what shall we conclude? That the Law is sin? Certainly not! Yet, if it had not been for the Law, I should never have learned what sin was; I should not have known what it was to covet if the Law had not said, "You must not covet."

For this is what the promise said: "When I come back at this time next year, Sarah will have a son."

He said to Moses, "I will have mercy on the man on whom I choose to have mercy, and take pity on the man on whom I choose to take pity."

Moses said that anyone who carried out the uprightness the Law prescribed would find life through it.

But I ask again, did Israel fail to understand? Why, to begin with, Moses said, "I will make you jealous of what is no nation at all, I will exasperate you at a senseless nation."

Then Isaiah broke out boldly and said, "I have been found by men who were not looking for me, I have shown myself to men who were not asking what my will was."

But of Israel he said, "All day long I have held out my hands to a disobedient and obstinate people."

And David said, "Let their feasting prove a snare and a trap to them, Their ruin and their retribution.