and I always ask in my prayers, if perhaps now at last I may succeed in visiting you according to the will of God.

nor are all the children Abraham's true descendants; rather "through Isaac will your descendants be counted."

Not only that, but when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our ancestor Isaac --

But I ask, have they not heard? Yes, they have: Their voice has gone out to all the earth, and their words to the ends of the world.

But again I ask, didn't Israel understand? First Moses says, "I will make you jealous by those who are not a nation; with a senseless nation I will provoke you to anger."

And Isaiah is even bold enough to say, "I was found by those who did not seek me; I became well known to those who did not ask for me."

So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

I ask then, they did not stumble into an irrevocable fall, did they? Absolutely not! But by their transgression salvation has come to the Gentiles, to make Israel jealous.