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.

Berean Standard Bible

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Study note

Setting — God addresses the assembled Israelites at Sinai, framing the covenant terms that follow. He has just reminded them of the exodus and His carrying them to Himself (v. 4).

The words — שָׁמוֹעַ (shamo'a), literally "to hear," carries the force of "obey" in covenant context; the BSB renders it "obey" but the Hebrew root is plain hearing. The condition rests on this: not passive reception but responsive action.

The thread — The phrase "treasured possession" (segullah) recurs in Deuteronomy 7:6, 14:2, and 26:18, where it is restated as a standing identity rather than a conditional promise. The shift from conditional (Exodus 19:5) to declarative (Deuteronomy) is itself significant.

Why it lands — The verse is structured as a conditional, not a declaration; the identity of "treasured possession" is tied to obedience and covenant-keeping. A reader is asked to hold both the promise and the condition without collapsing one into the other.

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

וְעַתָּ֗הve./'a.Tahand/ therefore אִם־'im-<if>שָׁמ֤וֹעַsha.Mo.a'certainly [if] <to listen>תִּשְׁמְעוּ֙tish.me.'Uyou will listen בְּקֹלִ֔יbe./ko.L/ito/ voice/ my וּשְׁמַרְתֶּ֖םu./she.mar.Temand/ you will keep אֶת־'et-<obj.>בְּרִיתִ֑יbe.ri.T/icovenant/ my וִהְיִ֨יתֶםvi/h.Yi.temand/ you will beלִ֤יl/iof/ meסְגֻלָּה֙se.gu.Laha possession מִכָּל־mi./kolfrom/ all הָ֣עַמִּ֔יםha./'a.Mimthe/ peoples כִּי־ki-forלִ֖יl/i[belongs] to <the>/ meכָּל־kol-all הָאָֽרֶץ׃ha./'A.retzthe/ earth

King James Version

Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

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.
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.
Deuteronomy 26:18 And today the LORD has proclaimed that you are His people and treasured possession as He promised, that you are to keep all His commandments,
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.
Exodus 15:26 saying, “If you will listen carefully to the voice of the LORD your God, and do what is right in His eyes, and pay attention to His commands, and keep all His statutes, then I will not bring on you any of the diseases I inflicted on the Egyptians. For I am the LORD who heals you.”
Deuteronomy 10:14 Behold, to the LORD your God belong the heavens, even the highest heavens, and the earth and everything in it.
Psalms 135:4 For the LORD has chosen Jacob as His own, Israel as His treasured possession.
Exodus 23:22 But if you will listen carefully to his voice and do everything I say, I will be an enemy to your enemies and a foe to your foes.
Deuteronomy 4:20 Yet the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of His inheritance, as you are today.
Exodus 9:29 Moses said to him, “When I have left the city, I will spread out my hands to the LORD. The thunder will cease, and there will be no more hail, so that you may know that the earth is the LORD’s.