For the LORD has chosen Jacob as His own, Israel as His treasured possession.
Parallel translations
- WEB For Yah has chosen Jacob for himself; Israel for his own possession.
- KJV For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure.
- NKJV For the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His special treasure.
- NASB For the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel as His own possession.
- NLT For the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel for his own special treasure.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Yahweh has chosen Jacob and Israel as His own treasured possession. It celebrates God's gracious election of His covenant people.
Overview
The psalm grounds praise in God's choice of Jacob, that is Israel, as His own special possession. This election rests on God's grace, not the nation's merit. It anticipates the church, chosen in Christ to be God's treasured people drawn from every nation.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- 1 Pet 2:9But 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.
- Deut 10:15Yet the LORD has set His affection on your fathers and loved them. And He has chosen you, their descendants after them, above all the peoples, even to this day.
- Deut 7:6–7For 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.
- Mal 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.
- Zech 2:10–12“Shout for joy and be glad, O Daughter of Zion, for I am coming to dwell among you,” declares the LORD.
- Isa 41:8“But you, O Israel, My servant, Jacob, whom I have chosen, descendant of Abraham My friend—
- Ps 105:6O offspring of His servant Abraham, O sons of Jacob, His chosen ones.
- Deut 32:9But the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance.
- Isa 43:20–21The beasts of the field will honor Me, the jackals and the ostriches, because I provide water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to My chosen people.
- Ps 33:12Blessed is the nation whose God is the LORD, the people He has chosen as His inheritance!
- 1 Sam 12:22Indeed, for the sake of His great name, the LORD will not abandon His people, because He was pleased to make you His own.
- Titus 2:14He 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.
- Exod 19:5–6Now 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.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 135:4 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.