Indeed, ¹  the Lord has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel to be his special possession. ² 

So ¹  I again considered ²  another ³  futile thing on earth: ⁴ 

And now, if you will diligently listen to me ¹  and keep ²  my covenant, then you will be my ³  special possession ⁴  out of all the nations, for all the earth is mine,

For you are a people holy ¹  to the Lord your God. He ²  has chosen you to be his people, prized ³  above all others on the face of the earth.

And today the Lord has declared you to be his special people (as he already promised you) so you may keep all his commandments.

He ¹  gave himself for us to set us free from every kind of lawlessness and to purify for himself a people who are truly his, ²  who are eager to do good. ³ 

But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people of his own, so that you may proclaim the virtues ¹  of the one who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.

He did not speak to them without a parable. But privately he explained everything to his own disciples.

idolatry, sorcery, ¹  hostilities, ²  strife, ³  jealousy, outbursts of anger, selfish rivalries, dissensions, ⁴  factions,

For the one who enters God’s ¹  rest has also rested from his works, just as God did from his own works.

I have written these things ¹  to you who believe ²  in the name of the Son of God so that ³  you may know that you have eternal life.

I also amassed silver and gold for myself, as well as valuable treasures ¹  taken from kingdoms and provinces. ²  I acquired male singers and female singers for myself, and what gives a man sensual delight ³  – a harem of beautiful concubines! ⁴ 

For the Lord will rise up, as he did at Mount Perazim, ¹  he will rouse himself, as he did in the Valley of Gibeon, ²  to accomplish his work, his peculiar work, to perform his task, his strange task. ³ 

“They will belong to me,” says the Lord who rules over all, “in the day when I prepare my own special property. ¹  I will spare them as a man spares his son who serves him.