Romans 9:15-21

15For he says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” Exodus 33:19 16It does not, therefore, depend on human desire or effort, but on God’s mercy. 17For 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.” Exodus 9:16

18Therefore God has mercy on whom he wants to have mercy, and he hardens whom he wants to harden. 19One of you will say to me: “Then why does God still blame us? For who is able to resist his will?” 20But 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?’ ” Isaiah 29:16; 45:9

21Does 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?