For the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel as His own 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.
- BSB For the LORD has chosen Jacob as His own, Israel as His treasured possession.
- NKJV For the Lord has chosen Jacob for Himself, Israel for His special treasure.
- 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 race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
- Deut 10:15Only 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.
- Deut 7:6–7For 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.
- Mal 3:17They 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 who serves him.
- Zech 2:10–12Sing and rejoice, daughter of Zion; for, behold, I come, and I will dwell within you,’ says Yahweh.
- Isa 41:8“But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham my friend,
- Ps 105:6you offspring of Abraham, his servant, you children of Jacob, his chosen ones.
- Deut 32:9For Yahweh’s portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
- Isa 43:20–21The animals of the field shall honor me, the jackals and the ostriches; because I give water in the wilderness and rivers in the desert, to give drink to my people, my chosen,
- Ps 33:12Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh, the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.
- 1 Sam 12:22For Yahweh will not forsake his people for his great name’s sake, because it has pleased Yahweh to make you a people for himself.
- Titus 2:14who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for good works.
- Exod 19:5–6Now 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 the earth is mine;
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
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Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
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.