⁸ This means that not all of Abraham’s children are children of God, but only those who believe the promise of salvation which he made to Abraham.

⁹ For God had promised, “Next year I will give you and Sarah a son.” ^10-13 And years later, when this son Isaac was grown up and married and Rebecca his wife was about to bear him twin children, God told her that Esau, the child born first, would be a servant to Jacob, his twin brother. In the words of the Scripture, “I chose to bless Jacob but not Esau.” And God said this before the children were even born, before they had done anything either good or bad. This proves that God was doing what he had decided from the beginning; it was not because of what the children did but because of what God wanted and chose.