Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 10:15
Yet the LORD has set His affection on your fathers and loved them. And He has chosen you, their descendants after them, above all the peoples, even to this day.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses Israel between a declaration of Yahweh’s sovereignty over creation and a command to remove spiritual stubbornness, grounding their present election in past covenant action.
The words — The conjunction רַק (rak) means "only" or "yet," creating a sharp contrast with the preceding verse. The verb חָשַׁק (chasheq) denotes a deliberate, binding affection that precedes and motivates the act of choosing the descendants.
The thread — The verse’s pattern of divine choice following prior affection appears in Deuteronomy 4:37 and Deuteronomy 7:7, while Numbers 14:8 shifts the focus to God’s delight in the people themselves rather than ancestral preference.
Why it lands — The text states that election rests on God’s prior affection, not human merit, and demands that recipients respond by removing heart-hardness and ceasing rebellion.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
Only the Lord had a delight in thy fathers to love them, and he chose their seed after them, even you above all people, as it is this day.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 4:37 Because He loved your fathers, He chose their descendants after them and brought you out of Egypt by His presence and great power,
- Numbers 14:8 If the LORD delights in us, He will bring us into this land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and He will give it to us.
- Deuteronomy 7:7 The LORD did not set His affection on you and choose you because you were more numerous than the other peoples, for you were the fewest of all peoples.
- Romans 9:13 So it is written: “Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”