What Does Deuteronomy 14:2 Mean in the King James?
For thou art an holy people unto the LORD thy God, and the LORD hath chosen thee to be a peculiar people unto himself, above all the nations that are upon the earth.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The verse calls you holy because the LORD claims you as his own treasured possession.
THE MEANING
You belong to the LORD your God as a set-apart people, his own treasured possession among the peoples of the earth. His choosing is the source of this identity; the verse locates belonging in his claim upon you.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
The belief that you must first make yourself exceptional to belong to God is undone: the verse names the LORD as the one who chooses.
THE ROOT
קָדוֹשׁ
qadosh
GROWS FROM
קדש
To set apart as sacred.
“holy” in this verse is qadosh. The same root appears in words for sacredness and sanctuary, connecting a set-apart people with a place set apart for God. Here holiness names belonging to the LORD.
ALSO GROWS
qodesh: Sacredness; what is set apart as sacred.
קֹדֶשׁ
It shares the root of “holy” and shows that the verse names a sacred belonging.
miqdash: Sanctuary; a place set apart for God.
מִקְדָּשׁ
The same root marks both a sanctuary and the people described here as set apart.
בָּחַר
bachar
GROWS FROM
בחר
To choose or select.
“chosen” in this verse is bachar. The verse grounds this distinct identity in the LORD’s act of choosing. Words from this root carry both the act of selection and what is selected.
ALSO GROWS
bachir: Chosen one; one selected.
בָּחִיר
It names the person who stands within the act of choosing described in the verse.
mivchar: Choice; the best or choicest selection.
מִבְחָר
It shows the root extending from choosing to what is selected.
THE PATTERN
Being set apart is a belonging given by God, voiced as being his and expressed as a distinct identity.
And ye shall be holy unto me: for I the LORD am holy, and have severed you from other people, that ye should be mine.But now thus saith the LORD that created thee, O Jacob, and he that formed thee, O Israel, Fear not: for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine.But ye are a chosen generation, a royal priesthood, an holy nation, a peculiar people; that ye should shew forth the praises of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvellous light:THE THREAD
Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:“Peculiar treasure” translates סְגֻלָּה (segullah), meaning a valued possession. The shared word makes the identity in Deuteronomy tangible: you are named as the LORD’s own possession within a covenant relationship.
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