Israel, how blessed you are! Who is like you? The Lord has saved you. He keeps you safe. He helps you. He’s like a glorious sword to you. Your enemies will bow down to you in fear. You will walk on the highest places of their lands.”
But God chose you to be his people. You are royal priests. You are a holy nation. You are God’s special treasure. You are all these things so that you can give him praise. God brought you out of darkness into his wonderful light.
He gave himself for us. By doing that, he set us free from all evil. He wanted to make us pure. He wanted us to be his very own people. He wanted us to desire to do what is good.
Blessed are those you choose and bring near to worship you. You bring us into the courtyards of your holy temple. There in your house we are filled with all kinds of good things.
Now obey me completely. Keep my covenant. If you do, then out of all the nations you will be my special treasure. The whole earth is mine.But you will be a kingdom of priests to serve me. You will be my holy nation.’ That is what you must tell the Israelites.”
You did not choose me. Instead, I chose you. I appointed you so that you might go and bear fruit that will last. I also appointed you so that the Father will give you what you ask for. He will give you whatever you ask for in my name.
He has made his word known to the people of Jacob. He has made his laws and rules known to Israel.He hasn’t done that for any other nation. They don’t know his laws. Praise the Lord.
You are a holy nation. The Lord your God has set you apart for himself. He has chosen you to be his special treasure. He chose you out of all the nations on the face of the earth to be his people.The Lord chose you because he loved you very much. He didn’t choose you because you had more people than other nations. In fact, you had the smallest number of all.The Lord chose you because he loved you. He wanted to keep the promise he had made to your people of long ago. That’s why he used his mighty hand to bring you out of Egypt. He bought you back from the land where you were slaves. He set you free from the power of Pharaoh, the king of Egypt.
The God of Jacob is not like them. He gives his people everything they need. He made everything that exists. And that includes Israel. They are the people who belong to him. His name is the Lord Who Rules Over All.
