Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and exclaimed, "Look, a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit!"

When they heard this, they entered the temple courts at daybreak and began teaching. Now when the high priest and those who were with him arrived, they summoned the Sanhedrin -- that is, the whole high council of the Israelites -- and sent to the jail to have the apostles brought before them.

But when he was about forty years old, it entered his mind to visit his fellow countrymen the Israelites.

This is the Moses who said to the Israelites, 'God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.'

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.

Brothers and sisters, my heart's desire and prayer to God on behalf of my fellow Israelites is for their salvation.

So I ask, God has not rejected his people, has he? Absolutely not! For I too am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, from the tribe of Benjamin.

But if the ministry that produced death -- carved in letters on stone tablets -- came with glory, so that the Israelites could not keep their eyes fixed on the face of Moses because of the glory of his face (a glory which was made ineffective),

and not like Moses who used to put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from staring at the result of the glory that was made ineffective.

Are they Hebrews? So am I. Are they Israelites? So am I. Are they descendants of Abraham? So am I.