Although Paul uses the phrase “the word of God,” his reference is clearly to the promise of God (Jerusalem Bible “does this mean that God has failed to keep his promise?”). Paul argues that this is not true, because not all the people of Israel are the chosen people of God. This sentence might be literally rendered “not all those who descend from Israel are Israel” (Jerusalem Bible), but it is evident that in this clause the word “Israel” is used in two distinct ways: (1) those who share a common racial ancestry (“those who descend from Israel”) and (2) those who are the chosen people of God. An American Translation* attempts to make the difference clear by rendering “for not everybody who descended from Israel really belongs to Israel”; New English Bible by “for not all descendants of Israel are truly Israel”; and the New American Bible by “for not all Israelites are true Israelites.”

I am not saying that the promise of God has failed may be difficult to translate in some languages. It may be easier to say: “I do not say that the promise of God has not succeeded” or “… has not done its work” or even “… God has failed to keep his promise.”

The clause of cause, because not all … are the chosen people of God, is particularly crucial in this verse, and great care must be exercised in translating it. This clause relates to the main clause, I am not saying, and not to the promise of God has failed. It may be necessary in some languages to break this verse into two sentences and to shift from a negative to a positive aspect—for example, “I am not saying that what God promised has not happened. What God promised has actually happened; because the people whom God has specially chosen include more persons than simply the people of Israel.”

Quoted with permission from Newman, Barclay M. and Nida, Eugene A. A Handbook on Paul’s Letter to the Romans. (UBS Handbook Series). New York: UBS, 1973. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .