Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 7:6
For you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all peoples on the face of the earth.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses the whole congregation of Israel at the plains of Moab, positioned between a command to dismantle Canaanite religious structures (v. 5) and a denial that their number or merit earned the choice (v. 7).
The words — קָדוֹשׁ (qadosh, H6918) is the predicate adjective meaning "set apart, holy," defining Israel's status; בָּחַר (bāḥar, H977) is a simple perfect-tense verb, "he has chosen," with no condition attached.
The thread — Deuteronomy 14:2 repeats the formula nearly verbatim; Exodus 19:5 conditions the same "treasured possession" language on covenant obedience; 1 Peter 2:9 recasts it for the church as "a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation."
Why it lands — The verse removes any basis for self-congratulation (v. 7: "you were the fewest") and replaces it with a claim that carries obligation: holiness is not a feeling but a set-apartness that demands the destruction of everything that competes with the One who chose.
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
For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God: the Lord thy God hath chosen thee to be a special people unto himself, above all people that are upon the face of the earth.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 14:2 for you are a people holy to the LORD your God. The LORD has chosen you to be a people for His prized possession out of all the peoples on the face of the earth.
- Exodus 19:5 Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine.
- 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
- Malachi 3:17 “They will be Mine,” says the LORD of Hosts, “on the day when I prepare My treasured possession. And I will spare them as a man spares his own son who serves him.
- Deuteronomy 26:19 that He will set you high in praise and name and honor above all the nations He has made, and that you will be a holy people to the LORD your God, as He has promised.
- 1 Corinthians 6:19 Do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have received from God? You are not your own;
- Jeremiah 2:3 Israel was holy to the LORD, the firstfruits of His harvest. All who devoured her were found guilty; disaster came upon them,’” declares the LORD.
- Amos 3:2 “Only you have I known from all the families of the earth; therefore I will punish you for all your iniquities.”
- Titus 2:14 He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
- Psalms 50:5 “Gather to Me My saints, who made a covenant with Me by sacrifice.”