Romans 9:4
New International Version
the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption to sonship; theirs the divine glory, the covenants, the receiving of the law, the temple worship and the promises.

New Living Translation
They are the people of Israel, chosen to be God’s adopted children. God revealed his glory to them. He made covenants with them and gave them his law. He gave them the privilege of worshiping him and receiving his wonderful promises.

English Standard Version
They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.

Berean Standard Bible
the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.

Berean Literal Bible
who are Israelites, whose is the divine adoption as sons, and the glory, and the covenants, and the lawgiving, and the service, and the promises;

King James Bible
Who are Israelites; to whom pertaineth the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;

New King James Version
who are Israelites, to whom pertain the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service of God, and the promises;

New American Standard Bible
who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons and daughters, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the temple service, and the promises;

NASB 1995
who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises,

NASB 1977
who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises,

Legacy Standard Bible
who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, and the glory and the covenants and the giving of the Law and the temple service and the promises,

Amplified Bible
who are Israelites, to whom belongs the adoption as sons, the glory (Shekinah), the [special] covenants [with Abraham, Moses, and David], the giving of the Law, the [system of temple] worship, and the [original] promises.

Christian Standard Bible
They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises.

Holman Christian Standard Bible
They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple service, and the promises.

American Standard Version
who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;

Aramaic Bible in Plain English
Who are the children of Israel, whose was the adoption of children, the glory, The Covenant, The Written Law, the ministry which is in it, The Promises,

Contemporary English Version
They are the descendants of Israel, and they are also God's chosen people. God showed them his glory. He made agreements with them and gave them his Law. The temple is theirs and so are the promises that God made to them.

Douay-Rheims Bible
Who are Israelites, to whom belongeth the adoption as of children, and the glory, and the testament, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises:

English Revised Version
who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;

GOD'S WORD® Translation
They are Israelites, God's adopted children. They have the Lord's glory, the pledges, Moses' Teachings, the true worship, and the promises.

Good News Translation
They are God's people; he made them his children and revealed his glory to them; he made his covenants with them and gave them the Law; they have the true worship; they have received God's promises;

International Standard Version
who are Israelis. To them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the Law, the worship, and the promises.

Literal Standard Version
who are Israelites, whose [is] the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the lawgiving, and the service, and the promises,

Majority Standard Bible
the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.

New American Bible
They are Israelites; theirs the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises;

NET Bible
who are Israelites. To them belong the adoption as sons, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises.

New Revised Standard Version
They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises;

New Heart English Bible
who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises;

Webster's Bible Translation
Who are Israelites; to whom pertain the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;

Weymouth New Testament
To them belongs recognition as God's sons, and they have His glorious Presence and the Covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the Temple service, and the ancient Promises.

World English Bible
who are Israelites; whose is the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the service, and the promises;

Young's Literal Translation
who are Israelites, whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the lawgiving, and the service, and the promises,

Additional Translations ...
Audio Bible



Context
Paul's Concern for the Jews
3For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers, my own flesh and blood, 4the people of Israel. Theirs is the adoption as sons; theirs the divine glory and the covenants; theirs the giving of the law, the temple worship, and the promises. 5Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them proceeds the human descent of Christ, who is God over all, forever worthy of praise! Amen.…

Cross References
Genesis 17:2
I will establish My covenant between Me and you, and I will multiply you exceedingly."

Exodus 4:22
Then tell Pharaoh that this is what the LORD says: 'Israel is My firstborn son,

Exodus 40:34
Then the cloud covered the Tent of Meeting, and the glory of the LORD filled the tabernacle.

Deuteronomy 4:13
He declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to follow--the Ten Commandments that He wrote on two tablets of stone.

Deuteronomy 7:6
For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all peoples on the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy 14:1
You are sons of the LORD your God; do not cut yourselves or shave your foreheads on behalf of the dead,

Deuteronomy 29:14
I am making this covenant and this oath not only with you,


Treasury of Scripture

Who are Israelites; to whom pertains the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the law, and the service of God, and the promises;

are Israelites.

Romans 9:6
Not as though the word of God hath taken none effect. For they are not all Israel, which are of Israel:

Genesis 32:28
And he said, Thy name shall be called no more Jacob, but Israel: for as a prince hast thou power with God and with men, and hast prevailed.

Exodus 19:3-6
And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel; …

the adoption.

Exodus 4:22
And thou shalt say unto Pharaoh, Thus saith the LORD, Israel is my son, even my firstborn:

Deuteronomy 14:1
Ye are the children of the LORD your God: ye shall not cut yourselves, nor make any baldness between your eyes for the dead.

Jeremiah 31:9,20
They shall come with weeping, and with supplications will I lead them: I will cause them to walk by the rivers of waters in a straight way, wherein they shall not stumble: for I am a father to Israel, and Ephraim is my firstborn…

and the glory.

Numbers 7:89
And when Moses was gone into the tabernacle of the congregation to speak with him, then he heard the voice of one speaking unto him from off the mercy seat that was upon the ark of testimony, from between the two cherubims: and he spake unto him.

1 Samuel 4:21,22
And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband…

1 Kings 8:11
So that the priests could not stand to minister because of the cloud: for the glory of the LORD had filled the house of the LORD.

covenants.

Genesis 15:18
In the same day the LORD made a covenant with Abram, saying, Unto thy seed have I given this land, from the river of Egypt unto the great river, the river Euphrates:

Genesis 17:2,7,10
And I will make my covenant between me and thee, and will multiply thee exceedingly…

Exodus 24:7,8
And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient…

the giving.

Romans 3:2
Much every way: chiefly, because that unto them were committed the oracles of God.

Nehemiah 9:13,14
Thou camest down also upon mount Sinai, and spakest with them from heaven, and gavest them right judgments, and true laws, good statutes and commandments: …

Psalm 147:19
He sheweth his word unto Jacob, his statutes and his judgments unto Israel.

Jump to Previous
Adoption Agreements Ancient Belong Belongs Covenants Divine Glorious Glory God's Hope Israel Israelites Law Pertain Pertaineth Presence Promises Recognition Service Sonship Temple Worship
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Adoption Agreements Ancient Belong Belongs Covenants Divine Glorious Glory God's Hope Israel Israelites Law Pertain Pertaineth Presence Promises Recognition Service Sonship Temple Worship
Romans 9
1. Paul is sorry for the Jews.
7. All of Abraham not of the promise.
18. God's sovereignty.
25. The calling of the Gentiles and rejecting of the Jews, foretold.
32. The cause of their stumbling.














(4) The adoption.--They are the theocratic people, the people whom God had, as it were, adopted to Himself, and taken into the special filial relation. (Comp. Hosea 11:1, "I called my son out of Egypt;" Exodus 4:22, "Israel is my son, even my firstborn;" et al.)

The glory.--The Shechinah, or visible symbol of God's presence. (Comp. Exodus 16:10; Exodus 24:16; Exodus 40:34-35; 1Samuel 4:22; 1Kings 8:10-11; Ezekiel 1:28; Hebrews 9:5.) . . .

Verses 4, 5. - Who (οἵτινες, with its usual sense of quippe qui) are Israelites; whose is the adoption, and the glory, and the covenants, and the giving of the Law, and the service of God, and the promises; whose are the fathers, and from whom is Christ as concerning the flesh, who is over all, God blessed for ever. Amen. Here "the adoption" (ὑιοθεσία) means the selection of Israel to be God's peculiar people (cf. Exodus 4:22, "Israel is my son, even my firstborn;" Deuteronomy 14:1, "Ye are the children of the Lord your God;" Hosea 11:1, "When Israel was a child, I loved him, and called my son out of Egypt;" also Exodus 19:5. Cf. also τέκνα τοῦ Θεοῦ in ver. 8 below). It is, of course, a different idea from that of the spiritual υἱοθεσία of believers (at present as in Romans 8:15, or to come as in Romans 8:23), though it might be typical of it. "The glory" (ἡ δόξα) seems best explained by reference to 2 Corinthians 3:7-18, where the visible glory, said to have rested on the mercy-seat and to have illuminated for a time the face of Moses, is regarded as expressing the glory, in a higher sense, of the old dispensation, which, however, was destined to fade away in the greater glory of the revelation of God in Christ. The word may be thus taken to denote, not simply the Sheehinab, or the glory on Mount Sinai, but rather what was signified by these manifestations. It was probably a recognized term in use with reference to the giving of the Law. "The covenants" (αἱ διαθῆκαι), and "the promises" (αἱ ἐπαγγελίαι), both in the plural, include those made with and given to Abraham and the other patriarchs, as well as the Mosaic ones. The former word is wrongly taken by some as denoting the tables of the covenant. Ἡ λατρεία is obviously the divinely appointed ceremonial worship, the typical significance of which is explained at length in the Epistle to the Hebrews, where the same word is used. "The fathers" (οἱ πατέρες) are the patriarchs, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, the original recipients of the promises, descent from whom was made such account of by the Jews, as being the foundation of their privileges (cf. Matthew 3:9; Luke 3:8; Luke 13:28; John 8:39; and, for the use of πατέρες in this sense, cf. Acts 3:22; Acts 13:32; Romans 15:8; Hebrews 1:1). The last and crowning distinction of the Jewish race is mentioned last, viz. the fleshly descent therefrom of Christ, even of him who in his higher nature is "over all, God blessed for ever." This is certainly the most obvious meaning of the conclusion of ver. 5, as far as the language is concerned, and the one understood by all ancient commentators. Some moderns, however, as is well known, have raised objections to this interpretation of the clause, based solely on the supposed improbability that St. Paul would have so designated Christ. Some would, therefore, get over this imagined difficulty by putting a full stop after κατὰ σάρκα, and taking what follows as a doxology to God the Father, thus: "God, who is over all, be blessed for ever." The apostle is supposed, according to this interpretation, to have been moved to this parenthetical utterance by his contemplation of the Divine favours to Israel, which he had been recounting. Some have suggested the full stop being put after πάντων, so as to refer ὁ ω}ν ἐπὶ πάντων to Christ, and take only what follows as a doxology, or, as some would have it, as a statement. But, in either case, the idea of so unlikely a breaking up of the sentence may be dismissed as untenable. Others, without thus breaking up the sentence, take the whole of it, beginning with ὁ ω}ν, to be, not a doxology, but a statement, thus at- tempting to meet the objection to its being a doxology (to be noticed presently), arising from the collocation of the words. But a mere assertion that God is blessed for ever would seem peculiarly uncalled for and purposeless here. Meyer, being a critic of deserved repute, and an upholder of the modern interpretation of the clause, taking the whole of it together as a doxology to the Father, it may suffice to state his arguments.

(1) That St. Paul, though regarding the Son of God as the image of God, of the essence of God, the agent in creation and preservation, the judge of all, the object of prayer, and the possessor of Divine glory and fulness of grace (Romans 1:4; Romans 10:12; Philippians it. 6; Colossians 1:15, etc.; Colossians 2:9; Ephesians 1:20, etc.; 1 Corinthians 8:6; 2 Corinthians 4:4; 2 Corinthians 8:9), never expressly calls him Θεὸς, but always clearly distinguishes him as the Κύριος from Θεὸς; and that the passages in which Θεὸς has been supposed by some to apply to him (as in 2 Thessalonians 1:12, Κατὰ τὴν χάριν τοῦ Θεοῦ ἡμῶν καὶ Κυρίου Ιησοῦ Ξριστοῦ; and Ephesians 5:5; Titus 1:4) are wrongly so understood; ὅς, not Θεὸς, being also undoubtedly the original reading in 1 Timothy 3:16. (Of St. Paul's usual distinction between Θεὸς and Κύριος, when he is referring to the economy of redemption, other instances are found in 1 Corinthians 8:6; 1 Corinthians 12:4, 5, 6; Ephesians 4:4, 5, 6. That he does usually so distinguish is undoubted.)

(2) That, according to the old ecclesiastical interpretation, "Christ would be called here, not only God, but even God over all, and consequently would be designated as Θεὸς παντοκράτωρ, which is absolutely incompatible with the entire view of the New Testament as to the dependence of the Son on the Father."

(3) That "in the properly apostolical writings (2 Peter 3:18 does not belong to them, nor does Hebrews 13:21) we never meet with a doxology to Christ in the form which is usual in doxologies to God." Meyer adds in a note, "2 Timothy 4:18 certainly refers to Christ; but this is just one of the traces of post-apostolic composition. Now, to these arguments it may be replied as follows: To (1) that, though it may be true that St. Paul in no other passage expressly calls Christ Θεὸς, yet his doctrine with respect to his Divine nature is in accordance with the expression; for surely the term Θεὸς is applicable to him who is spoken of, as e.g. in Philippians 2:6 and Colossians 1:15, etc.; that his usual distinction between the supreme God and Christ as Mediator by no means precludes his declaring in express terms Christ's essential Deity in a passage where such a declaration is suitable and called for; that even St. John, who is acknowledged by all to have peculiarly set forth the Divine essence of Christ, only once uses the expression, Θεὸς ῆν ὁ Λόγος, or any exactly equivalent to it. To argument (2) it may be replied that the language used does not identify Christ with the Father as ὁ παντοκράτωρ Θεὸς, especially if we suppose a comma after πάντων, so that the meaning would he, "Christ who is over all, God blessed for ever." That Christ is "over all" is what is distinctly declared elsewhere by St. Paul, and Θεὸς, etc., may be appended predicatively to denote his Divine essence. As to argument (3), it is necessary to exclude not only 2 Peter and Hebrews, but also 2 Timothy from the list of apostolical writings in order to give it any force. But even so it would be irrelevant; for the sentence before us is not a doxology, but an assertion: it is, according to the ancient interpretation, not "Blessed be Christ as God for ever;" but" Christ, who is God blessed for ever." The positive reasons for retaining the ancient interpretations may be stated as follows: . . .

Parallel Commentaries ...


Greek
[the people of]
οἵτινές (hoitines)
Personal / Relative Pronoun - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 3748: Whosoever, whichsoever, whatsoever.

Israel.
Ἰσραηλῖται (Israēlitai)
Noun - Nominative Masculine Plural
Strong's 2475: An Israelite, one of the chosen people of Israel, a Jew. From Israel; an 'Israelite', i.e. Descendant of Israel.

[Theirs is]
ὧν (hōn)
Personal / Relative Pronoun - Genitive Masculine Plural
Strong's 3739: Who, which, what, that.

the
(hē)
Article - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

adoption as sons;
υἱοθεσία (huiothesia)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 5206: From a presumed compound of huios and a derivative of tithemi; the placing as a son, i.e. Adoption.

[theirs]
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

the
(hē)
Article - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

divine glory
δόξα (doxa)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 1391: From the base of dokeo; glory, in a wide application.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

the
αἱ (hai)
Article - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

covenants;
διαθῆκαι (diathēkai)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 1242: From diatithemai; properly, a disposition, i.e. a contract.

[theirs]
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

the
(hē)
Article - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

giving of the Law,
νομοθεσία (nomothesia)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3548: Lawgiving, legislation. From nomothetes; legislation.

the
(hē)
Article - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

temple worship,
λατρεία (latreia)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Singular
Strong's 2999: Service rendered to God, perhaps simply: worship. From latreuo; ministration of God, i.e. Worship.

and
καὶ (kai)
Conjunction
Strong's 2532: And, even, also, namely.

the
αἱ (hai)
Article - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 3588: The, the definite article. Including the feminine he, and the neuter to in all their inflections; the definite article; the.

promises.
ἐπαγγελίαι (epangeliai)
Noun - Nominative Feminine Plural
Strong's 1860: A promise. From epaggello; an announcement.


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NT Letters: Romans 9:4 Who are Israelites (Rom. Ro)
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