For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth. Yahweh didn’t set his love on you nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples; but because Yahweh loves you, and because he desires to keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, Yahweh has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that Yahweh your God himself is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with them who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations,
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When Yahweh your God brings you into the land where you go to possess it, and casts out many nations before you—the Hittite, the Girgashite, the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite—seven nations greater and mightier than you; and when Yahweh your God delivers them up before you, and you strike them, then you shall utterly destroy them. You shall make no covenant with them, nor show mercy to them. You shall not make marriages with them. You shall not give your daughter to his son, nor shall you take his daughter for your son. For that would turn away your sons from following me, that they may serve other gods. So Yahweh’s anger would be kindled against you, and he would destroy you quickly. But you shall deal with them like this: you shall break down their altars, dash their pillars in pieces, cut down their Asherah poles, and burn their engraved images with fire. For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth. Yahweh didn’t set his love on you nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples; but because Yahweh loves you, and because he desires to keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, Yahweh has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt. Know therefore that Yahweh your God himself is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with them who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations, and repays those who hate him to their face, to destroy them. He will not be slack to him who hates him. He will repay him to his face. You shall therefore keep the commandments, the statutes, and the ordinances which I command you today, to do them. It shall happen, because you listen to these ordinances and keep and do them, that Yahweh your God will keep with you the covenant and the loving kindness which he swore to your fathers. He will love you, bless you, and multiply you. He will also bless the fruit of your body and the fruit of your ground, your grain and your new wine and your oil, the increase of your livestock and the young of your flock, in the land which he swore to your fathers to give you. You will be blessed above all peoples. There won’t be male or female barren among you, or among your livestock. Yahweh will take away from you all sickness; and he will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which you know, on you, but will lay them on all those who hate you. You shall consume all the peoples whom Yahweh your God shall deliver to you. Your eye shall not pity them. You shall not serve their gods; for that would be a snare to you. If you shall say in your heart, “These nations are more than I; how can I dispossess them?” you shall not be afraid of them. You shall remember well what Yahweh your God did to Pharaoh and to all Egypt: the great trials which your eyes saw, the signs, the wonders, the mighty hand, and the outstretched arm, by which Yahweh your God brought you out. So shall Yahweh your God do to all the peoples of whom you are afraid. Moreover Yahweh your God will send the hornet among them, until those who are left, and hide themselves, perish from before you. You shall not be scared of them; for Yahweh your God is among you, a great and awesome God. Yahweh your God will cast out those nations before you little by little. You may not consume them at once, lest the animals of the field increase on you. But Yahweh your God will deliver them up before you, and will confuse them with a great confusion, until they are destroyed. He will deliver their kings into your hand, and you shall make their name perish from under the sky. No one will be able to stand before you until you have destroyed them. You shall burn the engraved images of their gods with fire. You shall not covet the silver or the gold that is on them, nor take it for yourself, lest you be snared in it; for it is an abomination to Yahweh your God. You shall not bring an abomination into your house and become a devoted thing like it. You shall utterly detest it. You shall utterly abhor it; for it is a devoted thing.
Parallel Translations
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For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.
Yahweh didn’t set his love on you nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples;
but because Yahweh loves you, and because he desires to keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, Yahweh has brought you out with a mighty hand and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Know therefore that Yahweh your God himself is God, the faithful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with them who love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations,
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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.
The LORD did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people; for ye were the fewest of all people:
But because the LORD loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondmen, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Know therefore that the LORD thy God, he is God, the faithful God, which keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love him and keep his commandments to a thousand generations;
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For thou art a holy people unto the LORD thy God: the LORD thy God hath chosen thee to be His own treasure, out of all peoples that are upon the face of the earth.
The LORD did not set His love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people — for ye were the fewest of all peoples —
but because the LORD loved you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore unto your fathers, hath the LORD brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
Know therefore that the LORD thy God, He is God; the faithful God, who keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments to a thousand generations;
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (1)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (78)
- Hebrews 10:23 (v9) let’s hold fast the confession of our hope without wavering; for he who promised is faithful.
- 2 Timothy 2:13 (v9) If we are faithless, he remains faithful; for he can’t deny himself.”
- 2 Thessalonians 3:3 (v9) But the Lord is faithful, who will establish you and guard you from the evil one.
- Deuteronomy 14:2 (v6) For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on…
- Daniel 9:4 (v9) I prayed to Yahweh my God, and made confession, and said, “Oh, Lord, the great and dreadful God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness…
Show all 78 cross-references
- 1 Corinthians 1:9 (v9) God is faithful, through whom you were called into the fellowship of his Son, Jesus Christ, our Lord.
- Nehemiah 1:5 (v9) and said, “I beg you, Yahweh, the God of heaven, the great and awesome God, who keeps covenant and loving kindness with those who love him…
- Exodus 19:5-6 (v6) Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all…
- 1 Thessalonians 5:24 (v9) He who calls you is faithful, who will also do it.
- 1 Peter 2:9 (v6) But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of…
- Romans 8:28 (v9) We know that all things work together for good for those who love God, for those who are called according to his purpose.
- Deuteronomy 5:10 (v9) and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
- Exodus 20:6 (v9) and showing loving kindness to thousands of those who love me and keep my commandments.
- Isaiah 49:7 (v9) Yahweh, the Redeemer of Israel, and his Holy One, says to him whom man despises, to him whom the nation abhors, to a servant of rulers:…
- Genesis 17:7 (v9) I will establish my covenant between me and you and your offspring after you throughout their generations for an everlasting covenant, to…
- Exodus 20:2 (v8) “I am Yahweh your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of bondage.
- 2 Corinthians 1:18 (v9) But as God is faithful, our word toward you was not “Yes and no.”
- 1 John 1:9 (v9) If we confess our sins, he is faithful and righteous to forgive us the sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness.
- James 1:12 (v9) Blessed is a person who endures temptation, for when he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord promised to…
- Malachi 3:17 (v6) They shall be mine,” says Yahweh of Armies, “my own possession in the day that I make, and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son…
- Hebrews 6:18 (v9) that by two immutable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we may have a strong encouragement, who have fled for refuge to…
- Psalms 119:75 (v9) Yahweh, I know that your judgments are righteous, that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
- Deuteronomy 26:19 (v6) He will make you high above all nations that he has made, in praise, in name, and in honor; and that you may be a holy people to Yahweh…
- 1 Corinthians 6:19-20 (v6) Or don’t you know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit who is in you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were…
- Deuteronomy 4:35 (v9) It was shown to you so that you might know that Yahweh is God. There is no one else besides him.
- 1 Chronicles 16:15 (v9) Remember his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations,
- Titus 1:2 (v9) in hope of eternal life, which God, who can’t lie, promised before time began;
- Hebrews 11:11 (v9) By faith, even Sarah herself received power to conceive, and she bore a child when she was past age, since she counted him faithful who had…
- Exodus 34:6-7 (v9) Yahweh passed by before him, and proclaimed, “Yahweh! Yahweh, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness…
- 1 Corinthians 8:3 (v9) But if anyone loves God, the same is known by him.
- 1 Corinthians 10:3 (v9) and all ate the same spiritual food;
- Jeremiah 2:3 (v6) Israel was holiness to Yahweh, the first fruits of his increase. All who devour him will be held guilty. Evil will come on them,” ’ says…
- Lamentations 3:23 (v9) They are new every morning. Great is your faithfulness.
- Amos 3:2 (v6) “I have only chosen you of all the families of the earth. Therefore I will punish you for all of your sins.”
- Titus 2:14 (v6) who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for…
- Psalms 50:5 (v6) “Gather my saints together to me, those who have made a covenant with me by sacrifice.”
- Deuteronomy 28:9 (v6) Yahweh will establish you for a holy people to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you shall keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, and…
- Psalms 146:6 (v9) who made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them; who keeps truth forever;
- Exodus 32:13 (v8) Remember Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, your servants, to whom you swore by your own self, and said to them, ‘I will multiply your offspring…
- Jeremiah 31:3 (v8) Yahweh appeared of old to me, saying, “Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love. Therefore I have drawn you with loving kindness.
- Ephesians 2:4-5 (v8) But God, being rich in mercy, for his great love with which he loved us, even when we were dead through our trespasses, made us alive…
- Deuteronomy 10:22 (v7) Your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons; and now Yahweh your God has made you as the stars of the sky for multitude.
- Isaiah 43:4 (v8) Since you have been precious and honored in my sight, and I have loved you, therefore I will give people in your place, and nations instead…
- Romans 9:11-15 (v7) For being not yet born, neither having done anything good or bad, that the purpose of God according to election might stand, not of works,…
- Deuteronomy 10:15 (v8) Only Yahweh had a delight in your fathers to love them, and he chose their offspring after them, even you above all peoples, as it is today.
- 2 Peter 2:5 (v6) and didn’t spare the ancient world, but preserved Noah with seven others, a preacher of righteousness, when he brought a flood on the world…
- Exodus 13:14 (v8) It shall be, when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ that you shall tell him, ‘By strength of hand Yahweh brought…
- Psalms 115:1 (v7) Not to us, Yahweh, not to us, but to your name give glory, for your loving kindness, and for your truth’s sake.
- Romans 9:21 (v7) Or hasn’t the potter a right over the clay, from the same lump to make one part a vessel for honor, and another for dishonor?
- 2 Peter 2:9 (v6) the Lord knows how to deliver the godly out of temptation and to keep the unrighteous under punishment for the day of judgment,
- 1 John 4:10 (v7) In this is love, not that we loved God, but that he loved us, and sent his Son as the atoning sacrifice for our sins.
- Exodus 13:3 (v8) Moses said to the people, “Remember this day, in which you came out of Egypt, out of the house of bondage; for by strength of hand Yahweh…
- Isaiah 51:2 (v7) Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who bore you; for when he was but one I called him, I blessed him, and made him many.
- Matthew 7:14 (v7) How narrow is the gate, and restricted is the way that leads to life! Few are those who find it.
- Luke 1:72-73 (v8) to show mercy toward our fathers, to remember his holy covenant, the oath which he swore to Abraham our father,
- Luke 12:32 (v7) Don’t be afraid, little flock, for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the Kingdom.
- Romans 9:18 (v7) So then, he has mercy on whom he desires, and he hardens whom he desires.
- Romans 9:27-29 (v7) Isaiah cries concerning Israel, “If the number of the children of Israel are as the sand of the sea, it is the remnant who will be saved;…
- Romans 11:6 (v7) And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise…
- Hebrews 6:13-17 (v8) For when God made a promise to Abraham, since he could swear by no one greater, he swore by himself, saying, “Surely blessing I will bless…
- Genesis 22:16-18 (v8) and said, “ ‘I have sworn by myself,’ says Yahweh, ‘because you have done this thing, and have not withheld your son, your only son, that I…
- Exodus 12:41-42 (v8) At the end of four hundred thirty years, to the day, all of Yahweh’s armies went out from the land of Egypt. It is a night to be much…
- Deuteronomy 4:20 (v8) But Yahweh has taken you, and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance, as it is today.
- Deuteronomy 4:34 (v8) Or has God tried to go and take a nation for himself from among another nation, by trials, by signs, by wonders, by war, by a mighty hand,…
- Deuteronomy 4:37 (v8) Because he loved your fathers, therefore he chose their offspring after them, and brought you out with his presence, with his great power,…
- Deuteronomy 9:4-5 (v8) Don’t say in your heart, after Yahweh your God has thrust them out from before you, “For my righteousness Yahweh has brought me in to…
- 1 Samuel 12:22 (v8) For Yahweh will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased Yahweh to make you a people for himself.
- 2 Samuel 22:20 (v8) He also brought me out into a large place. He delivered me, because he delighted in me.
- Psalms 44:3 (v8) For they didn’t get the land in possession by their own sword, neither did their own arm save them; but your right hand, your arm, and the…
- Psalms 105:8-10 (v8) He has remembered his covenant forever, the word which he commanded to a thousand generations, the covenant which he made with Abraham, his…
- Psalms 105:42 (v8) For he remembered his holy word, and Abraham, his servant.
- Zephaniah 3:17 (v8) Yahweh, your God, is among you, a mighty one who will save. He will rejoice over you with joy. He will calm you in his love. He will…
- Matthew 11:26 (v8) Yes, Father, for so it was well-pleasing in your sight.
- Luke 1:55 (v8) as he spoke to our fathers, to Abraham and his offspring forever.”
- 2 Thessalonians 2:13-14 (v8) But we are bound to always give thanks to God for you, brothers loved by the Lord, because God chose you from the beginning for salvation…
- Titus 3:3-7 (v8) For we were also once foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving various lusts and pleasures, living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating…
- 1 John 3:1 (v7) See how great a love the Father has given to us, that we should be called children of God! For this cause the world doesn’t know us,…
- 1 John 4:19 (v8) We love him, because he first loved us.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this passage (18 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv8–9 Freely, finding no cause in you more than in…
Freely, finding no cause in you more than in others so to do.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv6, 8, 9 Deu 7:6 For thou [art] an holy people unto…
Deu 7:6 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.
Ver. 6. For thou art a holy people.] viz., With a federal holiness; which yet without an inherent holiness in the heart and life, will profit a man no more than it did Dives in the flames that Abraham called him son; or Judas, that Christ called him friend. An empty title yields but an empty comfort at last.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv7–9 To wit, at that time when God first declared…
To wit, at that time when God first declared his love to you, and choice of you for his peculiar people, which was done to Abraham. For Abraham had but one son concerned in this choice and covenant, to wit, Isaac, and that was in his hundredth year; and Isaac was sixty years old ere he had a child, and then they had only two children; and though Jacob had twelve sons, yet it was a long time ere they made any considerable increase. Nor do we read of any great multiplication of them till after Joseph’s death, Exo 1:6,7.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv6–9 For thou art an holy people unto the Lord…
For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God,.... Not sanctified in a spiritual sense, or having principles of grace and holiness in them, from whence holy actions sprang, at least not all of them; but they were separated from all other people in the world to the pure worship and service of God in an external manner, and therefore were to avoid all idolatry, and every appearance of it:
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; for special service and worship, and to enjoy special privileges and benefits, civil and religious; though they were not chosen to special grace here, and eternal glory hereafter; at least not all of them, only a remnant, according to the election of grace; yet they were typical of the chosen people of God in a special sense; who are chosen out of the world to be a peculiar people, to be holy here and happy hereafter; to enjoy communion with God in this life and that to come, as well as to serve and glorify him now and for evermore.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv7–8 The fewest - To wit, at that time when…
The fewest - To wit, at that time when God first declared his choice of you for his peculiar people, which was done to Abraham. For Abraham had but one son concerned in this choice and covenant, namely, Isaac, and that was in his hundredth year; and Isaac was sixty years old ere he had a child, and then had only two children; and though Jacob had twelve sons, it was a long time before they made any considerable increase. Nor do we read of any great multiplication of them 'till after Joseph's death.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv6, 8 Verse 6. Thou art a holy people] And therefore…
Verse 6. Thou art a holy people] And therefore should have no connection with the workers of iniquity.
A special people] סגלה segullah, - Septuagint, λαον περιουσιον, - a peculiar people, a private property. The words as they stand in the Septuagint are quoted by the apostle, Deut 7:1; Deut 2:9.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On v7 Deu 7:7-8. The fewest — To wit, at that…
Deu 7:7-8. The fewest — To wit, at that time, when God first declared his choice of you for his peculiar people, which was done to Abraham. For Abraham had but one son concerned in this choice and covenant, namely, Isaac, and that was not till he was in his hundredth year; and Isaac was sixty years old ere he had a child, and then had only two children; and though Jacob had twelve sons, yet it was a long time before they made any considerable increase. Nor do we read of any great multiplication of them until after Joseph’s death. The Lord loved you — It was his free choice, without any cause or motive on your part.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv6, 7, 9 Peculiar. Hebrew sogula, laid up like something most precious…
Peculiar. Hebrew sogula, laid up like something most precious and desirable. (Menochius) --- God seemed to have abandoned other nations to the corruption of their own heart. "This was, by a particular mystery, a prophetical nation." (St. Augustine, ep. cii.) (Exodus xix. 5.) (Calmet) --- Therefore must they destroy every idol in their land, to set a pattern to all other less favoured nations how they ought also to treat them.
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On v6 For thou art an holy people unto the Lord…
For thou art an holy people unto the Lord thy God--that is, set apart to the service of God, or chosen to execute the important purposes of His providence. Their selection to this high destiny was neither on account of their numerical amount (for, till after the death of Joseph, they were but a handful of people); nor because of their extraordinary merits (for they had often pursued a most perverse and unworthy conduct); but it was in consequence of the covenant or promise made with their pious forefathers; and the motives that led to that special act were such as tended not only to vindicate God's wisdom, but to illustrate His glory in diffusing the best and most precious blessings to all mankind.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv7–9 7. Ye were the fewest of all people —…
7. Ye were the fewest of all people — Jehovah did not choose you for his people because you were a mighty nation like the Egyptian. Moses looks back to the call of Abraham, and the going down to Egypt of Jacob and his family.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv6–9 6. an holy people unto Jehovah thy God] So…
6. an holy people unto Jehovah thy God] So Deu_14:2; Deu_14:21; Deu_26:19; Deu_28:9; cp. Exo_19:6 (J prob. expanded): an holy nation. As elsewhere in Deut., holy is here used in the formal sense of separated unto, or reserved for, Jehovah, and includes an ethical meaning only by implication, i.e. in so far as traffic with the heathen and the worship of their gods, which Israel, in consequence of his holiness to Jehovah, was forbidden to share, would necessarily involve the people in immoral practices. See the following note.
Holiness in Deut. and other O.T. Writers
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The adj. holy (ḳadosh), and the noun holiness (ḳodesh), with the various forms of the verb (prob. denominative) to be holy, and to hallow or sanctify, require a separate note, especially in view of certain phenomena which distinguish the use of these terms in Deut. The meaning of the root ‘ḳ-d-sh’ ‘appears to be physical: ‘cut off,’ ‘separate,’ ‘set apart.’ But in Heb. and other Semitic languages the words derived from it are always used in a religious sense, both of God or the gods and of things and men in their relation to the deity. It is not certain whether they were first applied to deity as separate from, or at a distance above men, and then transferred to men and things belonging to the deity; or whether they were originally used of these as set apart from common use for the use of the god and then transferred to himself. But this is clear, that as the meaning of the terms grew in Israel’s use of them, the chief influence in that growth was the revealed nature of Israel’s God. At first the meaning of holy and holiness was purely formal, without ethical content, and negative. Even in Israel, and even with prophets who had very rich conceptions of the moral and metaphysical nature of God, the terms still often retain their original and negative character. To Hosea God is Holy as the Utter Contrast of man, Hos_11:9 : God and not man, the Holy One in the midst of thee; to the Prophet of the Exile He is the Incomparable, Isa_40:25 : to whom will ye liken me, that I should be equal to him? saith the Holy One. But as these passages show, the terms could not remain negative when used of God, but became positive and equivalent to godhead. In Phoenician (as A. B. Davidson points out) the phrase ‘the holy gods’ just means the divine gods. Similarly in Israel the contents of the term Holy came to be the contents of the nature of Jehovah as these were revealed to the prophets. To Hosea (Hos_11:9, see above) God’s holiness, His utter contrast with men, is His love and power of forgiving. To Isaiah it is His transcendence, majesty and awful purity, crushing and bewildering sinful man (Isa_6:1-5, high and lifted up, the foundations moved … the house was filled with smoke … woe is me, I am undone … a man of unclean lips), and His righteousness or justice (Isa_5:16, the Holy One is holy by righteousness); it is parallel to His glory (Isa_6:3). Yet ‘none of these attributes are synonyms of holiness strictly, they are rather elements in holiness’ (Davidson).
As applied to things holy simply means that they have been ceremonially set apart for the deity; so of the Sabbath (hallow it), the firstborn (sanctify them to me || they are mine), the sanctuary (miḳdash), its furniture, priests’ clothing, and foods (virtually equivalent to clean), etc. Similarly men are holy not because of their character, but from their devotion to the deity or His service, e.g. 1Sa_21:5 f. of soldiers (of divers characters) consecrated to war (see on Deu_20:1 ff., Deu_33:3); of a prophet, 2Ki_4:9; and frequently in P of priests, Levites and Nazirites. In E, Exo_22:31, holy is applied to the whole nation: they must not eat flesh torn by beasts of the field and not slain ritually, because they are men holy to Jehovah, His own and set apart for Him; while in Jer_2:3 holy = inviolable: as holiness to Jehovah, early Israel could not be devoured by other nations without guilt falling on these. Here also, however, the character of the God to whom Israel was sacred, gradually ethicised the term holy. This appears as early as J. Exo_19:5 f. (unless this passage is editorial), where it is announced that the people will be holy if they obey God’s voice and keep His covenant; and it is very clear in the formula, Be ye holy for I am holy, because of its connection with moral requirements, Lev_19:1-3; Lev_20:7. Even when Israel’s holiness is emphasised as incompatible with attendance on heathen cults, the notoriously immoral character of these implies that the holiness is not merely ceremonial but ethical as well. In Psalms 15, 24 only the upright and pure are fit to dwell in the holy place of God; yet even here holiness may mean no more than an awful sacredness (cp. Isa_33:14 f.). On the whole subject see A. B. Davidson, Theol. of the O.T. 144 ff., and J. Skinner, art. ‘Holiness in the O.T.’ in Hastings’ D.B.
In Deut., in which the use of holy and holiness is not so frequent or characteristic as it is in the Prophets and P, we find only some of the meanings described above; the whole range of them is not covered. The purely ritual sense, applied to things and men consecrated to God, is oftenest expressed: Deu_5:12 (the Sabbath); Deu_15:19 (firstling males); Deu_12:26, Deu_26:13 (all thy holy things, vows and tithes of the increase of fields and flocks); Deu_23:14 (the camp, because of God’s presence); cp. Deu_22:9 where R.V. forfeited, probably the exact meaning, is literally hallowed or consecrated; and Deu_23:17 f. where the men and women who sacrificed their chastity to the gods are called by the names they bore throughout the Semitic world (Ḳadesh and Ḳedeshah). Five times is Israel called a holy people—a people holy to Jehovah thy God. But in one of these passages, Deu_26:19, this means a people distinct from other nations, and high above them in renown; and in another, Deu_28:9 (as the context shows), an inviolable people just as in Jer_2:3, though the condition of such inviolableness is moral, their obedience to all the commandments of Jehovah. In two others, Deu_14:2; Deu_14:21, the phrase is used as the ground for their abstention from mutilation for the dead, and from eating what has not been ritually slain; while in Deu_7:6 it is given (as we have seen) as a reason for not treating or trafficking with the heathen or engaging in their cults. In these last three cases a moral meaning is doubtless implied in holy, because of the notoriously immoral character of such cults, but it is not explicit. This is strange after what we have seen of the moral contents of the term holy in the Prophets. But stranger still as coming after the Prophets (see above) is the fact that holy is nowhere in Deut. applied to God Himself (though in Deu_26:15 heaven is called His holy habitation); and He is not Styled as Isaiah so frequently styles Him the Holy One of Israel. Did the deuteronomists purposely avoid the association of this name with Jehovah because of some superstitious use of it (cp. Jeremiah’s repudiation of Isaiah’s conviction of the sanctity of the Temple, when this had become a mere fetish with the people), or because it was also applied to heathen gods?
Jehovah thy God hath chosen thee] The order of the original is much more emphatic: And (so Sam., LXX and some Heb. MSS) thee hath Jehovah thy God chosen. Similarly Deu_4:37, Deu_10:15, Deu_14:2 with Sg., and with Pl. only Deu_7:7. The idea and its expression are characteristic of D; it is not found in other documents of the Hex. nor in pre-deuteronomic writings (yet cp. Amo_3:2), but occurs frequently after D, in the deuteronomic Jer_33:24, and 1Ki_3:8; and frequently in Isa_41:8-9; Isa_43:10; Isa_44:1-2; cp. Isa_42:1; Isa_43:20; Isa_45:4; Isa_49:7; also of God’s restoration of the exiled Israel Isa_14:1. We must not impart into the phrase the full meaning of ‘election’ in the N.T. or Christian theology. As the passages in 2nd Isaiah show, ‘election’ by God is election to service (see the writer’s Isaiah xl.–lxvi. pp. 237 f.), and as Jeremiah 18 shows, it may be annulled if the object of it prove to be unworthy; yet, according to Isa_14:1, it may, on repentance being shown, be renewed; cp. below Deu_30:3 ff.
a peculiar people] Lit. a people of special possession; in late O.T. of the privy property of kings, 1Ch_29:3, Ecc_2:8; in N. H. the verb from which it is derived means to acquire property. Also in Deu_14:2 and Deu_26:18, like this passage, in Sg. Not certainly found before D, for Exo_19:5 is editorial. For details see note on that verse. The adj. has the sense which the noun ‘peculiar’ retains in Eng.
6–11. The reasons for the previous commands to destroy the peoples of the land, and to abstain from traffic with them, leading as this would to participation in their worship of other gods. Israel are for Jehovah alone: to this end He loved, chose, and redeemed them. This is one of the many cases in Deut. in which the principles or ideas offered for certain practices or acts of conduct commanded to Israel are of a far higher standard than these practices themselves, and therefore have endured as the essentials of religion when the practices are either no longer prescribed or actually forbidden (as in Christianity). The passage, which might appear to be founded on Exo_19:5 f., is not certainly so; for Exo_19:5 f. (on which see the note) has probably been expanded. The address changes to the Pl. in Deu_7:7-8, which are probably a later insertion: see below.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv6–9 (6) An holy people.—Not merely “a holy nation” (as…
(6) An holy people.—Not merely “a holy nation” (as in Exo_19:6), but “a holy people” i.e., a state of which holiness to Jehovah was the very constitution. If God pleased to establish such a state, manifestly its laws could allow no toleration of anything displeasing to Him. And it is also manifest that nothing but Divine revelation would authorise the establishment of such a constitution.
A special people.—The same word with the “peculiar treasure” of Exo_19:5 and the “jewels” of Mal_3:17. The private property of King David is described by the same word (1Ch_29:3), “mine own proper good.” (See also Deu_14:2; Deu_26:18; Psa_135:4 )
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv6–9 A holy people; a people consecrated to God, to…
A holy people; a people consecrated to God, to be holy as he is holy (cf. Lev_11:43-45 Lev_19:2 Lev_20:26 Lev_21:6 Deu_23:14) A special people unto himself; literally, to be to him for a people of property (hLgus), a people his own, his peculiar property (cf. Deu_14:2 Deu_26:18; and, for the meaning of the word, 1Ch_29:3, "mine own proper good;"; Ecc_2:8, "peculiar treasure of kings LXX, laosiov, applied by St. Paul to Christians as the chosen and special property of Christ. (Tit_2:14) Above all people; rather, out of or from among all the peoples.
Vers. 6-9. Reasons for non-conformity to the world, and for aggression on its evil.
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I THE HOLINESS OF OUR CALLING. (Ver. 6.) The believer stands toGod in the relation described in this verse. He is one chosen from the unholy mass to be peculiarly God"s property. He belongs to God in body, soul, and spirit. He is a vessel for the Master"s use. His every power is to be consecrated. What higher dignity could a human being sustain than that? But the obligations are coextensive with the honor. This man is, in virtue of his holiness, summoned to take up an attitude of non-conformity to the. (Rom_12:2) In virtue of the same holiness, he is bound to unite with others in a sacred crusade against its evil.
II THE GRACE OF OUR ELECTION. (Ver. 7.) This puts another powerful weight into the scale. Standing in so close and honorable a relation to God, the believer is bid look to the rock whence he is hewn, and the hole of the pit whence he is digged. Who made him to differ? Whence this mercy shown peculiarly to him? We need not press texts on election in favor of any special theory. Sufficient that every believer is willing to confess, as regards his own salvation, that "it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that showeth mercy". (Rom_9:16) An elective purpose comes to light in his spiritual history. (Eph_1:4, Eph_1:5) When tracing his salvation to its source, he is constrained to say, "God, who is rich in mercy, for his great love wherewith he loved us, even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ". (Eph_2:4, Eph_2:5) All this implies special obligation to God"s service.
III THE NIGHT OF OUR REDEMPTION. (Ver. 8.) The redemption from Egypt, with its tragic accompaniments and mighty signs and wonders, was but a faint type of the greater deliverance which God has now wrought for his Israel in Christ. We are entitled to put the greater for the less, and to plead the stronger claimers which the redemption from sin and wrath establishes on the redeemed soul. The cost of our salvation is Christ"s blood. What return can we conceivably make exhaustive of our obligations to Father and Son for so great a sacrifice? J.O.
Vers. 6-8. On the election of rations.
We are here introduced to remarkable words touching the election of, or we might say, selection of the Jews. The leading principles of the Divine administration are here set before us. The following points may be noticed:
I THE JEWS WERE SELECTED NOT ON ACCOUNT OF ANY NATIONAL SUPERIORITY. Moses tells them that, numerically, they were the fewest of all people. It was not numerical strength, nor national advantages of any kind, which induced God to select them.
II THEY WERE SELECTED BECAUSE GOD CHOSE TO SET HIS LOVE UPON THEM. "The Lord did not set his love upon you, nor choose you, because ye were more in number than any people but because the Lord loved you." It was sovereign love which is its own reason. And, in the last resort, it is to this we must come. We can give no better account of the matter than that God chose to do it.
III THE DELIVERANCE FROM EGYPT WAS THE PROOF OF HIS SOVEREIGN LOVE. Hereby he kept his promise made to their fathers, and fulfilled his own gracious purpose. The series of judgments, the outcome of his mighty hand, which proved how infinitely stronger it was than the hand of Pharaoh, while severe to Egypt, were love-tokens to Israel.
IV THE CHOICE OF ISRAEL WAS WITH A VIEW TO THEIR BEING A HOLY PEOPLE AND A SPECIAL PEOPLE UNTO THE LORD. Electing love extended to a nation or a people is really a Divine investment. The result is the holiness and consecration of the people. It is this holiness, this sense of consecration, which proves the electing love of God. And this is all the more intense when it is seen clearly that God"s love is manifested, not on the ground of national or personal merit, but as a matter of free grace.
And, doubtless, the Jews proved themselves a special people, although far from a perfect people. They were the custodians of the holy oracles for ages. They showed, and they still show, wonderful linguistic and other qualifications. All this, let us believe, is due to that grace and Divine development through which, as a nation, they were permitted to pass.
The practical application of this subject is surely this:
1. To receive God"s mercy under an abiding sense that it is undeserved.
2. To cultivate the sense of obligation to God for his undeserved mercy, which it is intended to foster.
3. And to realize the consecration of spirit through which all that is noble in human life comes. God saves us that we may serve him. He shows us his loving-kindness that we may become through it "a peculiar people, zealous of good works. R.M.E.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On v9 Them that love Him and keep His commandments.
Deu_7:9
Them that love Him and keep His commandments.
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Love God, and keep His commandments
The love of God, according to the Scripture notion of it, is a duty easy to be comprehended. And the text before us, which attaches so great a reward to this grace, does, at the same time, show us what it means in saying that God keepeth covenant and mercy with them that love Him and keep His commandments. For the latter words fix and ascertain the meaning of the former, and give us to understand that he who keepeth Gods commandments is he that loveth Him. Nor are the laws and commandments of God, by the keeping of which is evidenced our love of Him, so hard to be understood. For He hath marked out the great lines of our duty by His works of creation and providence, and hath clearly filled them up in His holy Scriptures. By these He hath showed thee, O man, what is good. I proceed to the main design of this discourse, which is, to lay before you the reasons and motives of loving and obeying God, which the text offers, from His nature and promises. The name of God implies all that is excellent and adorable; and here, in the first place, by the title of Lord added to it, directs our view to His dominion and sovereignty, by which He hath a right to our submission and obedience. We were created by His power, and are sustained by His providence We are born the subjects of His kingdom, which ruleth over all; and are the children of the family of which He is the great Father and Lord; who allots to everyone his rank and condition in it, and expects from all an account of their works. Our passage through life is compared to a voyage over a great ocean where we must wander and be lost, without somewhat to direct us through it. But our safe and certain direction is the law of God, in which we have not less reason to rejoice than they who go down to the sea in ships and do business in great waters have in beholding and observing the signs and constellations by which they govern their course over the face of the deep. For mariners, who sail in such tempestuous weather that neither sun nor stars in many days appear, are not in a state of greater perplexity and danger than man would be left in without the laws and commandments which God has set forth, as so many lights and signs from heaven to guide him securely through this voyage of life. We read that, in certain climates of the world, the gales that spring from the land carry a refreshing smell out to sea, and assure the watchful pilot that he is approaching to a desirable and fruitful coast when as yet he cannot discern it with his eyes. And, to take up once more the comparison of life to a voyage, in like manner it fares with those who have steadily and religiously pursued the course which heaven pointed out to them. We shall sometimes find by their conversation towards the end of their days, that they are filled with hope, and peace, and joy, which, like those refreshing gales and reviving odours to the seaman, are breathed forth from paradise upon their souls, and give them to understand with certainty that God is bringing them unto their desired haven. But to return to our proper argument. The wisdom of God is incapable of being misled itself, and His goodness of misleading us; and therefore the precepts which He hath given for the government of our lives must be excellently framed to the perfection and happiness of our nature. His laws, which enjoin the worship and honour of Himself, which command us to honour our parents, to do justice, and to love mercy, which forbid us to injure the life, the peace, the property of our neighbour, are evidently framed for the general good of mankind. And this we are mostly willing to allow. But there are some cases which the laws of God treat as sinful, wherein we are fondly apt to imagine that the injunction is rigorous which forbids us to follow the bent of our inclinations, when, as appears to us, no injury is done to others. Yet God is gracious, alike in His restraints and in His allowances. Some things which He hath forbidden prove injurious to others, if not directly, yet in their consequences. Some waste our time, divert our thoughts from worthy objects, and prevent our usefulness, to which God and society have a right; some consume our substance, to which our families, or the poor, have a claim; some impair the health of the body, which we have no right to destroy, and which, being lost, men become uncomfortable to themselves, dissatisfied with others, and disposed, perhaps, even to repine against that providence which hath left them to reap the fruits of their own folly. In the meanwhile those better principles and purer sentiments of the mind, without which religion and virtue cannot subsist, grow weak and faint, or are blotted out. Evil courses, in the expressive language of Scripture, take away the heart; that is, they deprive men of their judgment and darken their understanding; it may be, in the affairs of the world, but most undoubtedly in those things which are spiritually discerned. We are in this life as children in a state of education, training up for another condition of being, of which, at present, we know but little; only, we are assured that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God; that its enjoyments are of a spiritual nature, corresponding more with the faculties of the soul than with the present constitution of the body. The restraints, therefore, under which we are laid, and which seem grievous to us, as children, are parts, no doubt, of a wise and gracious discipline, which is to qualify us for a heavenly inheritance, and is so necessary a preparation for it that we cannot otherwise see God or enter into the joy of our Lord. Reason, therefore, in some particulars, and in others faith, which is the evidence of things not seen, will assure the mind of the Christian that every branch of the law of God is most worthy to be honoured and obeyed, as proceeding from infinite loving kindness and goodness to man. Is anyone, then, who professes himself the servant of the Lord, called by Him to a trial of his obedience, wherein some hardship or peril must be undergone? Let him call to mind how much harder trials they who loved and feared God formerly have undergone; let him consider how great things men of noble and ingenuous natures will do, even for an earthly commander; and let him recollect that he is serving a Master who never faileth to succour those who trust in Him, and in whose service he cannot lose the promised reward. For He is the faithful God who keepeth covenant and mercy. And here I am led to the last observation proposed, namely, the encouragement to obedience arising from this consideration, that the Almighty is our Deliverer, who hath visited and redeemed His people by His blessed Son Jesus Christ. (T. Townson, D. D.)
The Biblical Illustrator, edited by Joseph S. Exell (c. 1880s–1900s) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Alexander MacLaren 1905 · Public Domain On v9
Deuteronomy
GOD’S FAITHFULNESS
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Deu 7:9.
‘Faithful,’ like most Hebrew words, has a picture in it. It means something that can be {1} leant on, or {2} builded on.
This leads to a double signification-{1} trustworthy, and that because {2} rigidly observant of obligations. So the word applies to a steward, a friend, or a witness. Its most wonderful and sublime application is to God. It presents to our adoring love-
I. God as coming under obligations to us.
A marvellous and blessed idea. He limits His action, regards Himself as bound to a certain line of conduct.
1. Obligations from His act of creation.
‘A faithful Creator,’ bound to take care of those whom He has made. To supply their necessities. To satisfy their desires. To give to each the possibility of discharging its ideal.
2. Obligations from His past self.
‘God is faithful by whom ye were called,’ therefore He will do all that is imposed on Him by His act of calling.
He cannot begin without completing. There are no abandoned mines. There are no half-hewn stones in His quarries, like the block at Baalbec. And this because the divine nature is inexhaustible in power and unchangeable in purpose.
3. Obligations from His own word.
A revelation is presupposed by the notion of faithfulness. It is not possible in heathenism. ‘Dumb idols,’ which have given their worshippers no promises, cannot be thought of as faithful. By its grand conception of Jehovah as entering into a covenant with Israel, the Old Testament presents Him to our trust as having bound Himself to a known line of action. Thereby He becomes, if we may so phrase it, a constitutional monarch.
That conception of a Covenant is the negation of caprice, of arbitrary sovereignty, of mystery. We know the principles of His government. His majestic ‘I wills’ cover the whole ground of human life and needs for the present and the future. We can go into no region of life but we find that God has defined His conduct to us there by some word spoken to our heart and binding Him.
4. Obligations from His new Covenant and highest word in Jesus Christ.
‘He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins.’
II. God as recognising and discharging these obligations.
That He will do so comes from His very nature. With Him there is no change of disposition, no emergence of unseen circumstances, no failure or exhaustion of power.
That He does so is matter of fact. Moses in the preceding context had pointed to facts of history, on which he built the ‘know therefore’ of the text. On the broad scale the whole world’s history is full of illustrations of God’s faithfulness to His promises and His threats. The history of Judaism, the sorrows of nations, and the complications of national events, all illustrate this fact.
The personal history of each of us. The experience of all Christian souls. No man ever trusted in Him and was ashamed. He wills that we should put Him to the proof.
III. God as claiming our trust.
He is faithful, worthy to be trusted, as His deeds show.
Faith is our attitude corresponding to His faithfulness. Faith is the germ of all that He requires from us. How much we need it! How firm it might be! How blessed it would make us!
The thought of God as ‘faithful’ is, like a precious stone, turned in many directions in Scripture, and wherever turned it flashes light. Sometimes it is laid as the foundation for the confidence that even our weakness will be upheld to the end, as when Paul tells the Corinthians that they will be confirmed to the end, because ‘God is faithful, through whom ye were called into the fellowship of His Son’ {1Co 1:9}. Sometimes there is built on it the assurance of complete sanctification, as when he prays for the Thessalonians that their ‘whole spirit and soul and body may be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord’ and finds it in his heart to pray thus because ‘Faithful is He that calleth you, who will also do it’ {1Th 5:24}. Sometimes it is presented as the steadfast stay grasping which faith can expect apparent impossibilities, as when Sara ‘judged Him faithful who had promised’ {Heb 11:11}. Sometimes it is adduced as bringing strong consolation to souls conscious of their own feeble and fluctuating faith, as when Paul tells Timothy that ‘If we are faithless, He abideth faithful; for He cannot deny Himself’ {2Ti 2:13}. Sometimes it is presented as an anodyne to souls disturbed by experience of men’s unreliableness, as when the apostle heartens the Thessalonians and himself to bear human untrustworthiness by the thought that though men are faithless, God ‘is faithful, who shall establish you and keep you from evil’ {2Th 3:2 - 2Th 3:3}. Sometimes it is put forward to breathe patience into tempted spirits, as when the Corinthians are comforted by the assurance that ‘God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that ye are able’ {1Co 10:13}. Sometimes it is laid as the firm foundation for our assurance of pardon, as when John tells us that ‘If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins’ {1Jn 1:9}. And sometimes that great attribute of the divine nature is proposed as holding forth a pattern for us to follow, and the faith in it as tending to make us in a measure steadfast like Himself, as when Paul indignantly rebuts his enemies’ charge of levity of purpose and vacillation, and avers that ‘as God is faithful, our word toward you is not yea and nay’ {2Co 1:18}.
Alexander MacLaren, Expositions of Holy Scripture (1904–1910) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On v8 (See Scofield "Exo 14:30").
redeemed
(See Scofield "Exo 14:30").
The Scofield Reference Bible (1917 edition), notes by C. I. Scofield — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6, 7, 9 General Information:
General Information:
Moses tells the people of Israel Yahweh's words as if the Israelites are one person. (See: Forms of You)
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you are a nation that is set apart
Yahweh choosing the people of Israel to belong to him in a special way is spoken of as if Yahweh set them apart from all other nations. (See: Metaphor)
that are on the face of the earth
This is an idiom. AT: "that live on the earth" (See: Idiom)
translationWords
set apart
Yahweh
God
chosen one
people group
possess
face
earth
unfoldingWord translationNotes — © Distant Shores Media and the Door43 World Missions Community, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Source: git.door43.org/Door43/en_tn.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv6, 9 7:6 Of all peoples on earth, God chose Israel…
7:6 Of all peoples on earth, God chose Israel as his special treasure. Israel had not done anything commendable; rather, God acted out of grace that was undeserved and freely given.
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.