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For you are a people holy to the Lord, your God; the Lord, your God, has chosen you from all the peoples on the face of the earth to be a people specially his own.(A)

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for you are a people holy(A) to the Lord your God.(B) Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession.(C)

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21 You shall not eat the carcass of any animal that has died of itself; but you may give it to a resident alien within your gates to eat, or you may sell it to a foreigner. For you are a people holy to the Lord, your God.(A)

You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. 14:21 Boil a young goat in its mother’s milk: the meaning of this regulation is obscure but it may have a humane concern similar to the prohibitions against slaughtering an animal and its young on the same day (Lv 22:27–28) and capturing a mother bird along with her fledgling or eggs (Dt 22:6–7). See note on Ex 23:19.

21 Do not eat anything you find already dead.(A) You may give it to the foreigner residing in any of your towns, and they may eat it, or you may sell it to any other foreigner. But you are a people holy to the Lord your God.(B)

Do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.(C)

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18 And today the Lord has accepted your agreement: you will be a people specially his own, as he promised you, you will keep all his commandments, 19 and he will set you high in praise and renown and glory above all nations he has made, and you will be a people holy to the Lord, your God, as he promised.

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18 And the Lord has declared this day that you are his people, his treasured possession(A) as he promised, and that you are to keep all his commands. 19 He has declared that he will set you in praise,(B) fame and honor high above all the nations(C) he has made and that you will be a people holy(D) to the Lord your God, as he promised.

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When the Most High allotted each nation its heritage,
    when he separated out human beings,(A)
He set up the boundaries of the peoples
    after the number of the divine beings;[a]
But the Lord’s portion was his people;
    his allotted share was Jacob.(B)

10 He found them in a wilderness,
    a wasteland of howling desert.
He shielded them, cared for them,
    guarded them as the apple of his eye.(C)
11 As an eagle incites its nestlings,
    hovering over its young,
So he spread his wings, took them,
    bore them upon his pinions.(D)
12 The Lord alone guided them,
    no foreign god was with them.(E)

13 (F)He had them mount the summits of the land,[b]
    fed them the produce of its fields;
He suckled them with honey from the crags
    and olive oil from the flinty rock;
14 Butter from cows and milk from sheep,
    with the best of lambs;
Bashan[c] bulls and goats,
    with the cream of finest wheat;
    and the foaming blood of grapes you drank.

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Footnotes

  1. 32:8 Divine beings: lit., “sons of God” (see also v. 43); members of the divine assembly; cf. 1 Kgs 22:19; Jb 1:6; 2:1; 38:7; Ps 82; 89:6–7. The nations are portrayed as having their respective tutelary deities.
  2. 32:13 The land: Canaan.
  3. 32:14 Bashan: a fertile grazing land east of the Jordan, famous for its sleek, strong cattle. Cf. Ps 22:13; Ez 39:18; Am 4:1.

When the Most High(A) gave the nations their inheritance,
    when he divided all mankind,(B)
he set up boundaries(C) for the peoples
    according to the number of the sons of Israel.[a](D)
For the Lord’s portion(E) is his people,
    Jacob his allotted inheritance.(F)

10 In a desert(G) land he found him,
    in a barren and howling waste.(H)
He shielded(I) him and cared for him;
    he guarded him as the apple of his eye,(J)
11 like an eagle that stirs up its nest
    and hovers over its young,(K)
that spreads its wings to catch them
    and carries them aloft.(L)
12 The Lord alone led(M) him;(N)
    no foreign god was with him.(O)

13 He made him ride on the heights(P) of the land
    and fed him with the fruit of the fields.
He nourished him with honey from the rock,(Q)
    and with oil(R) from the flinty crag,
14 with curds and milk from herd and flock
    and with fattened lambs and goats,
with choice rams of Bashan(S)
    and the finest kernels of wheat.(T)
You drank the foaming blood of the grape.(U)

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 32:8 Masoretic Text; Dead Sea Scrolls (see also Septuagint) sons of God

Now, if you obey me completely and keep my covenant,[a] you will be my treasured possession among all peoples,(A) though all the earth is mine. You will be to me a kingdom of priests,[b] a holy nation.(B) That is what you must tell the Israelites.

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Footnotes

  1. 19:5 Covenant: while covenants between individuals and between nations are ubiquitous in the ancient Near East, the adaptation of this concept to express the relationship that will henceforth characterize God’s relationship to Israel represents an important innovation of biblical faith. Other gods might “choose” nations to fulfill a special destiny or role in the world; but only Israel’s God is bound to a people by covenant. Thereby Israel’s identity as a people is put upon a foundation that does not depend upon the vicissitudes of Israelite statehood or the normal trappings of national existence. Israel will be a covenant people.
  2. 19:6 Kingdom of priests: inasmuch as this phrase is parallel to “holy nation,” it most likely means that the whole Israelite nation is set apart from other nations and so consecrated to God, or holy, in the way priests are among the people (cf. Is 61:6; 1 Pt 2:5, 9).

Now if you obey me fully(A) and keep my covenant,(B) then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.(C) Although the whole earth(D) is mine, you[a] will be for me a kingdom of priests(E) and a holy nation.’(F) These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

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Footnotes

  1. Exodus 19:6 Or possession, for the whole earth is mine. You

[a]For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself,
    Israel as his treasured possession.(A)

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Footnotes

  1. 135:4 Though all nations are God’s, Israel has a special status as God’s “treasured” people: Ex 19:5; Dt 7:6; 14:2; 26:18; Mal 3:17.

For the Lord has chosen Jacob(A) to be his own,
    Israel to be his treasured possession.(B)

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17 (A)They shall be mine, says the Lord of hosts,
    my own special possession, on the day when I take action.
And I will have compassion on them,
    as a man has compassion on his son who serves him.

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17 “On the day when I act,” says the Lord Almighty, “they will be my(A) treasured possession.(B) I will spare(C) them, just as a father has compassion and spares his son(D) who serves him.

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