What Does Psalm 135:4 Mean?
For the LORD singles out Jacob for himself, and Israel for his own treasure.
Key words are shown with the Hebrew or Greek and what each word meant.
Selah Decoded Version The Selah Decoded Version renders what the Hebrew and Greek words meant to the people who first heard them.
King James wording
King James Version
For the LORD hath chosen Jacob unto himself, and Israel for his peculiar treasure.THE KEY
The verse names belonging twice: Jacob is chosen for the LORD himself, and Israel is his treasured possession.
THE MEANING
The LORD chooses Jacob and names Israel as his valued possession. The verse presents their identity as something received in relationship with him: chosen for him, valued as his own.
THE ROOT
בָּחַר
bāḥar
GROWS FROM
בחר
To choose or select.
“singles out Jacob for himself” in this verse is bāḥar. English “chosen” can sound like a rank, but בָּחַר (bāḥar, to choose) names the act of selection. Here, “for himself” gives that choice its direction: the verse describes not only whom the LORD selects, but whose they are.
ALSO GROWS
bachir: Chosen one; elect.
בָּחִיר
This related form keeps the focus on a person selected, rather than on status achieved.
mivchar: Choice; choicest selection.
מִבְחָר
This branch carries the sense of what is selected, connecting the act of choosing with the value assigned to what is chosen.
סְגֻלָּתוֹ
segullato
GROWS FROM
סגל
A valued possession or treasured property; the word family is rare, so its meaning is clearest from its biblical use.
“his own treasure” in this verse is segullato. “Peculiar” here has its older sense of a possession held as one’s own, not something strange. The Hebrew says “his treasured possession,” echoing the earlier “for himself” and making the belonging explicit twice.
ALSO GROWS
segullah: Treasured possession; special property.
סְגֻלָּה
This is the base form of the word translated “peculiar treasure,” naming Israel as something especially valued and owned.
segullot: Treasured possessions.
סְגֻלּוֹת
The plural form shows the same possession-language applied to a people held as God’s own.
יַעֲקֹב
Yaʿaqov
GROWS FROM
עקב
Heel; the related verb carries the image of following at the heel or supplanting.
“Jacob; Israel” in this verse is Yaʿaqov. Jacob’s name carries the heel-image: at his birth he is described gripping his brother’s heel. The verse places Jacob beside Israel, holding both names of the people within the same act of choosing.
ALSO GROWS
ʿaqev: Heel.
עָקֵב
This noun gives Jacob’s name its concrete image and recalls the name’s birth-story.
ʿaqav: To take by the heel; to supplant or circumvent.
עָקַב
This related verb adds the sense of struggle and grasping carried by Jacob’s name.
THE PATTERN
Scripture describes God’s choosing as a people belonging to him, with their identity received in relationship with him.
Now therefore, if you will truly hear and respond to my voice, and guard my covenant, then you shall be my own treasure from among all peoples, for all the earth is mine.For you are a set-apart people unto the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people of his own treasure, above all the peoples who are upon the face of the ground.But you are a chosen lineage, a royal priesthood, a set-apart nation, a people made his own, so that you may tell out the excellences of the one who called you out of darkness into his wondrous light.THE THREAD
For you are a set-apart people unto the LORD your God. The LORD your God has chosen you to be a people of his own treasure, above all the peoples who are upon the face of the ground.Deuteronomy 7:6 repeats both hinges: בָּחַר (bāḥar, choose) and סְגֻלָּה (segullah, treasured possession). Their pairing shows that choosing names a relationship of belonging, just as Psalm 135:4 says “for himself” and “his” treasure.
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