³ Left to my own self, I am half inclined to pray that I would be accursed, cut off from the Messiah, on behalf of my own family, my own flesh-and-blood relatives. ⁴ They are Israelites: the sonship, the glory, the covenants, the giving of the law, the worship and the promises all belong to them. ⁵ The patriarchs are their ancestors; and it is from them, according to the flesh, that the Messiah has come—who is God over all, blessed forever, Amen!