“But you, Israel, my servant,(A)
    Jacob, whom I have chosen,(B)
    you descendants of Abraham(C) my friend,(D)

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for you are a people holy(A) to the Lord your God.(B) Out of all the peoples on the face of the earth, the Lord has chosen you to be his treasured possession.(C)

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23 And the scripture was fulfilled that says, “Abraham believed God, and it was credited to him as righteousness,”[a](A) and he was called God’s friend.(B)

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Footnotes

  1. James 2:23 Gen. 15:6

Our God, did you not drive out the inhabitants of this land(A) before your people Israel and give it forever to the descendants of Abraham your friend?(B)

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Now if you obey me fully(A) and keep my covenant,(B) then out of all nations you will be my treasured possession.(C) Although the whole earth(D) is mine, you[a] will be for me a kingdom of priests(E) and a holy nation.’(F) These are the words you are to speak to the Israelites.”

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Footnotes

  1. Exodus 19:6 Or possession, for the whole earth is mine. You

14 You are my friends(A) if you do what I command.(B) 15 I no longer call you servants, because a servant does not know his master’s business. Instead, I have called you friends, for everything that I learned from my Father I have made known to you.(C)

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21 “Remember(A) these things, Jacob,
    for you, Israel, are my servant.(B)
I have made you, you are my servant;(C)
    Israel, I will not forget you.(D)

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look to Abraham,(A) your father,
    and to Sarah, who gave you birth.
When I called him he was only one man,
    and I blessed him and made him many.(B)

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Israel the Chosen

44 “But now listen, Jacob, my servant,(A)
    Israel, whom I have chosen.(B)
This is what the Lord says—
    he who made(C) you, who formed you in the womb,(D)
    and who will help(E) you:
Do not be afraid,(F) Jacob, my servant,(G)
    Jeshurun,[a](H) whom I have chosen.

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Footnotes

  1. Isaiah 44:2 Jeshurun means the upright one, that is, Israel.

22 Therefore this is what the Lord, who redeemed(A) Abraham,(B) says to the descendants of Jacob:

“No longer will Jacob be ashamed;(C)
    no longer will their faces grow pale.(D)

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12 Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord,(A)
    the people he chose(B) for his inheritance.(C)

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22 For it is written that Abraham had two sons, one by the slave woman(A) and the other by the free woman.(B) 23 His son by the slave woman was born according to the flesh,(C) but his son by the free woman was born as the result of a divine promise.(D)

24 These things are being taken figuratively: The women represent two covenants. One covenant is from Mount Sinai and bears children who are to be slaves: This is Hagar. 25 Now Hagar stands for Mount Sinai in Arabia and corresponds to the present city of Jerusalem, because she is in slavery with her children. 26 But the Jerusalem that is above(E) is free, and she is our mother. 27 For it is written:

“Be glad, barren woman,
    you who never bore a child;
shout for joy and cry aloud,
    you who were never in labor;
because more are the children of the desolate woman
    than of her who has a husband.”[a](F)

28 Now you, brothers and sisters, like Isaac, are children of promise.(G) 29 At that time the son born according to the flesh(H) persecuted the son born by the power of the Spirit.(I) It is the same now. 30 But what does Scripture say? “Get rid of the slave woman and her son, for the slave woman’s son will never share in the inheritance with the free woman’s son.”[b](J) 31 Therefore, brothers and sisters, we are not children of the slave woman,(K) but of the free woman.(L)

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Footnotes

  1. Galatians 4:27 Isaiah 54:1
  2. Galatians 4:30 Gen. 21:10

24 “Have you not noticed that these people are saying, ‘The Lord has rejected the two kingdoms[a](A) he chose’? So they despise(B) my people and no longer regard them as a nation.(C)

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Footnotes

  1. Jeremiah 33:24 Or families

Israel Freed

12 “Listen(A) to me, Jacob,
    Israel, whom I have called:(B)
I am he;(C)
    I am the first and I am the last.(D)

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Israel’s Only Savior

43 But now, this is what the Lord says—
    he who created(A) you, Jacob,
    he who formed(B) you, Israel:(C)
“Do not fear, for I have redeemed(D) you;
    I have summoned you by name;(E) you are mine.(F)

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For the Lord has chosen Jacob(A) to be his own,
    Israel to be his treasured possession.(B)

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33 They answered him, “We are Abraham’s descendants(A) and have never been slaves of anyone. How can you say that we shall be set free?”

34 Jesus replied, “Very truly I tell you, everyone who sins is a slave to sin.(B) 35 Now a slave has no permanent place in the family, but a son belongs to it forever.(C) 36 So if the Son sets you free,(D) you will be free indeed. 37 I know that you are Abraham’s descendants. Yet you are looking for a way to kill me,(E) because you have no room for my word. 38 I am telling you what I have seen in the Father’s presence,(F) and you are doing what you have heard from your father.[a](G)

39 “Abraham is our father,” they answered.

“If you were Abraham’s children,”(H) said Jesus, “then you would[b] do what Abraham did. 40 As it is, you are looking for a way to kill me,(I) a man who has told you the truth that I heard from God.(J) Abraham did not do such things. 41 You are doing the works of your own father.”(K)

“We are not illegitimate children,” they protested. “The only Father we have is God himself.”(L)

42 Jesus said to them, “If God were your Father, you would love me,(M) for I have come here from God.(N) I have not come on my own;(O) God sent me.(P) 43 Why is my language not clear to you? Because you are unable to hear what I say. 44 You belong to your father, the devil,(Q) and you want to carry out your father’s desires.(R) He was a murderer from the beginning, not holding to the truth, for there is no truth in him. When he lies, he speaks his native language, for he is a liar and the father of lies.(S)

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Footnotes

  1. John 8:38 Or presence. Therefore do what you have heard from the Father.
  2. John 8:39 Some early manuscripts “If you are Abraham’s children,” said Jesus, “then

And do not think you can say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’(A) I tell you that out of these stones God can raise up children for Abraham.

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16 But you are our Father,(A)
    though Abraham does not know us
    or Israel acknowledge(B) us;
you, Lord, are our Father,
    our Redeemer(C) from of old is your name.

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He said to me, “You are my servant,(A)
    Israel, in whom I will display my splendor.(B)

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15 Yet the Lord set his affection on your ancestors and loved(A) them, and he chose you,(B) their descendants, above all the nations—as it is today.(C)

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42 Because the Israelites are my servants, whom I brought out of Egypt,(A) they must not be sold as slaves.

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the people of Israel.(A) Theirs is the adoption to sonship;(B) theirs the divine glory,(C) the covenants,(D) the receiving of the law,(E) the temple worship(F) and the promises.(G) Theirs are the patriarchs,(H) and from them is traced the human ancestry of the Messiah,(I) who is God over all,(J) forever praised![a](K) Amen.

God’s Sovereign Choice

It is not as though God’s word(L) had failed. For not all who are descended from Israel are Israel.(M) Nor because they are his descendants are they all Abraham’s children. On the contrary, “It is through Isaac that your offspring will be reckoned.”[b](N) In other words, it is not the children by physical descent who are God’s children,(O) but it is the children of the promise who are regarded as Abraham’s offspring.(P)

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Footnotes

  1. Romans 9:5 Or Messiah, who is over all. God be forever praised! Or Messiah. God who is over all be forever praised!
  2. Romans 9:7 Gen. 21:12

42 For he remembered his holy promise(A)
    given to his servant Abraham.
43 He brought out his people with rejoicing,(B)
    his chosen ones with shouts of joy;
44 he gave them the lands of the nations,(C)
    and they fell heir to what others had toiled(D) for—
45 that they might keep his precepts
    and observe his laws.(E)

Praise the Lord.[a](F)

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 105:45 Hebrew Hallelu Yah

you his servants, the descendants of Abraham,(A)
    his chosen(B) ones, the children of Jacob.

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