A selection of verses showing how this theme runs consistently through the Bible.
God makes it clear to the early Israelites that they are a chosen people:
2 For you are a holy people to the LORD your God, and the LORD has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on the face of the earth.
King Solomon, in his prayer at the dedication of the temple he has built, says about the Israelites:
53 For you separated them from amongst all the peoples of the earth, to be your inheritance, as you spoke by Moses your servant, when you brought our fathers out of Egypt, Lord GOD.”
God tells the prophet Isaiah that the Israelites are special to him:
21 Remember these things, Jacob and Israel;
for you are my servant.
I have formed you.
You are my servant.
Israel, you will not be forgotten by me.
God gives a similar message to the prophet Jeremiah:
27 “But don’t you be afraid, Jacob my servant.
Don’t be dismayed, Israel;
for, behold, I will save you from afar,
and your offspring from the land of their captivity.
Jacob will return,
and will be quiet and at ease.
No one will make him afraid.
28 Don’t be afraid, O Jacob my servant,” says the LORD;
“for I am with you;
for I will make a full end of all the nations where I have driven you;
but I will not make a full end of you,
but I will correct you in measure,
and will in no way leave you unpunished.”
The apostle Paul confirms that the Israelites are still God's chosen people:
1 I ask then, did God reject his people? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2 God didn’t reject his people, which he foreknew. Or don’t you know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel:
These chapters have links to this theme:
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