Add parallel Print Page Options

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.

Read full chapter

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.

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)

Read full chapter

13 As a father has compassion on his children,
    so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

Read full chapter

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

Read full chapter

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.