Bible Strands
Exodus 19:6
And unto Me you shall be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation.’ These are the words that you are to speak to the Israelites.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God speaks to Moses at Sinai, commanding him to relay the statement to the Israelites immediately after the covenant offer in v.5.
The words — מַמְלֶכֶת כֹהֲנִים (mamlekheth kohanim) pairs "kingdom" with "priests," a royal title applied to a mediating function rather than a throne.
The thread — 1 Peter 2:9 repeats the phrase nearly verbatim ("a royal priesthood, a holy nation"), and Revelation 5:10 extends it to the redeemed who "reign upon the earth."
Why it lands — The verse is future tense ("you will be") and sits inside a conditional (v.5: "if you will obey"), so the identity is earned, not inherited. It asks the reader to hold the promise and the condition together 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
King James Version
And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.
Cross-references
- Revelation 5:10 You have made them to be a kingdom and priests to serve our God, and they will reign upon the earth.”
- 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.
- 1 Peter 2:5 you also, like living stones, are being built into a spiritual house to be a holy priesthood, offering spiritual sacrifices acceptable to God through Jesus Christ.
- 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.
- Revelation 1:6 who has made us to be a kingdom, priests to His God and Father—to Him be the glory and power forever and ever! Amen.
- Deuteronomy 28:9 The LORD will establish you as His holy people, just as He has sworn to you, if you keep the commandments of the LORD your God and walk in His ways.
- Isaiah 62:12 And they will be called the Holy People, the Redeemed of The LORD; and you will be called Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken.
- 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.
- Leviticus 11:44 For I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any creature that crawls along the ground.
- Leviticus 19:2 “Speak to the whole congregation of Israel and tell them: Be holy because I, the LORD your God, am holy.