and so I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring them out of Egypt to a spacious land, one which is rich and fertile and in which the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites now live.

I have decided that I will bring them out of Egypt, where they are being treated cruelly, and will take them to a rich and fertile land---the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

I will bring you to the land that I solemnly promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; and I will give it to you as your own possession. I am the LORD.' "

You shall be holy and belong only to me, because I am the LORD and I am holy. I have set you apart from the other nations so that you would belong to me alone.

Now, if you will obey me and keep my covenant, you will be my own people. The whole earth is mine, but you will be my chosen people,

a people dedicated to me alone, and you will serve me as priests."

How will anyone know that you are pleased with your people and with me if you do not go with us? Your presence with us will distinguish us from any other people on earth."

From the high rocks I can see them; I can watch them from the hills. They are a nation that lives alone; They know they are blessed more than other nations.

Do this because you belong to the LORD your God. From all the peoples on earth he chose you to be his own special people.

You belong to the LORD your God; he has chosen you to be his own people from among all the peoples who live on earth.

You chose them from all the peoples to be your own people, as you told them through your servant Moses when you brought our ancestors out of Egypt."

If you belonged to the world, then the world would love you as its own. But I chose you from this world, and you do not belong to it; that is why the world hates you.

And so the Lord says, "You must leave them and separate yourselves from them. Have nothing to do with what is unclean, and I will accept you.

But you are the chosen race, the King's priests, the holy nation, God's own people, chosen to proclaim the wonderful acts of God, who called you out of darkness into his own marvelous light.