Romans 9:4

Romans 9:4 in other versions

• King James Version (KJV)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;
• English Standard Version (ESV)They are Israelites, and to them belong the adoption, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship, and the promises.
• New King James Version (NKJV)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 Living Translation (NLT)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.

Context of Romans 9:4

2I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. 3For I could wish that I myself were cursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my people, those of my own race, 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. 5Theirs are the patriarchs, and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah, who is God over all, forever praised! Amen. 6It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.

Romans 9:4 word by word

οἵτινές εἰσιν Ἰσραηλῖται, ὧν ἡ υἱοθεσία καὶ ἡ δόξα καὶ αἱ διαθῆκαι καὶ ἡ νομοθεσία καὶ ἡ λατρεία καὶ αἱ ἐπαγγελίαι,Read the interlinear

Words taken from the KJV.

• Whoὅστιςhostis hētis ho6ti · who/whichG3748
• areεἰμίeimi · to beG1510
• IsraelitesἸσραηλίτηςIsraēlitēs · IsraeliteG2475
• to whomὅςhos hē ho · whichG3739
• the adoptionὁho hē to · the/this/whoG3588
• the adoptionυἱοθεσίαuihothesia · adoption (as son)G5206
• andκαίkai · andG2532
• the gloryδόξαdoxa · gloryG1391
• the covenantsδιαθήκηdiathēkē · covenantG1242
• the giving of the lawνομοθεσίαnomothesia · lawG3548
• the serviceλατρείαlatreia · ministryG2999
• the promisesἐπαγγελίαepaggelia · promiseG1860

Cross-references for Romans 9:4

• Romans 9:6It is not as though God’s word had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.
• Genesis 32:28Then the man said, “Your name will no longer be Jacob, but Israel, because you have struggled with God and with humans and have overcome.”
• Exodus 19:3Then Moses went up to God, and the Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “This is what you are to say to the descendants of Jacob and what you are to tell the people of Israel:
• Deuteronomy 7:6For you are a people holy to the Lord your God. The Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be his people, his treasured possession.
• Psalms 73:1Surely God is good to Israel, to those who are pure in heart.
• Isaiah 41:8“But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, you descendants of Abraham my friend,
• Isaiah 46:3“Listen to me, you descendants of Jacob, all the remnant of the people of Israel, you whom I have upheld since your birth, and have carried since you were born.
• John 1:47When Jesus saw Nathanael approaching, he said of him, “Here truly is an Israelite in whom there is no deceit.”
• Exodus 4:22Then say to Pharaoh, ‘This is what the Lord says: Israel is my firstborn son,
• Deuteronomy 14:1You are the children of the Lord your God. Do not cut yourselves or shave the front of your heads for the dead,
• Jeremiah 31:9They will come with weeping; they will pray as I bring them back. I will lead them beside streams of water on a level path where they will not stumble, because I am Israel’s father, and Ephraim is my firstborn son.
• Hosea 11:1“When Israel was a child, I loved him, and out of Egypt I called my son.
• Numbers 7:89When Moses entered the tent of meeting to speak with the Lord, he heard the voice speaking to him from between the two cherubim above the atonement cover on the ark of the covenant law. In this way the Lord spoke to him.
• 1 Samuel 4:21She named the boy Ichabod, saying, “The Glory has departed from Israel”—because of the capture of the ark of God and the deaths of her father-in-law and her husband.
• 1 Kings 8:11And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the Lord filled his temple.
• Psalms 63:2I have seen you in the sanctuary and beheld your power and your glory.

Commentaries on Romans 9:4

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 4Who are Israelites - Descendants of Jacob, a man so highly favored of God, and from whom he received his name Israel - a prince of God, Genesis 32:28; from which name his descendants were called Israelites, and separated unto God for his glory and praise. Their very name of Israelites implied their very high dignity; they were a royal nation; princes of the most high God. The adoption - The Israelites were all taken into the family of God, and were called…Read the comment
• Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 4Up to this point in Romans, Paul has called the Jewish people Jews. Here, and throughout most of 9–11, he shifts to the phrase the people of Israel. This change is important. Jew mainly points to national or ethnic identity. Israel emphasizes the special covenant relationship between the people and God. the adoption as sons: The Old Testament often calls Israel God’s son or child. This language shows that God chose Israel to belong to him (for example…Read the comment
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 44. Who are Israelites--See Ro 11:1; 2Co 11:22; Php 3:5. to whom pertaineth--"whose is" the adoption--It is true that, compared with the new economy, the old was a state of minority and pupilage, and so far that of a bond-servant (Ga 4:1-3); yet, compared with the state of the surrounding heathen, the choice of Abraham and his seed was a real separation of them to be a Family of God (Ex 4:22; De 32:6; Is 1:2; Jr 31:9; Ho 11:1; Mal 1:6). and the glory--that…Read the comment
• Calvin’s Commentaries · v. 44. Who are Israelites, etc. Here the reason is now more plainly given, why the destruction of that people caused him so much anguish, that he was prepared to redeem them by his own death, namely because they were Israelites; for the relative pronoun is put here instead of a causative adverb. In like manner this anxiety took hold on Moses, when he desired that he should be blotted out of the book of life, rather than that the holy and chosen race of…Read the comment

Topics related to Romans 9:4

• Church
• Word of God

In the dictionaries

• God
• god, false god, goddess, idol, idolater, idolatrous, idolatry
• Adoption
• Baptism, Christian
• Continual
• Election of Grace
• Fault
• Resist
• Bible, the
• Children of God

Commentaries on Romans 9

• Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
• Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
• Tyndale Open Study Notes
• Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
• Calvin’s Commentaries
• John Wesley’s Notes
• Illustrated New Testament
• Burkitt’s Expository Notes
• Darby Translation Notes
• Family Bible Notes
• Geneva Bible Translation Notes
• Kingcomments
• Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
• Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
• The People’s New Testament
• Robertson’s Word Pictures
• Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
• Original Douay–Rheims Annotations
• Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
• EGW Writings