" For you [are] a holy people to the LORD your God; the LORD your God has chosen you to be a people for Himself, a special treasure above all the peoples on the face of the earth.

"but because the LORD loves you, and because He would keep the oath which He swore to your fathers, the LORD has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you from the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

"The LORD delighted only in your fathers, to love them; and He chose their descendants after them, you above all peoples, as [it is] this day.

When the Most High divided their inheritance to the nations, When He separated the sons of Adam, He set the boundaries of the peoples According to the number of the children of Israel.

"He found him in a desert land And in the wasteland, a howling wilderness; He encircled him, He instructed him, He kept him as the apple of His eye.

[So] the LORD alone led him, And [there was] no foreign god with him.

Curds from the cattle, and milk of the flock, With fat of lambs; And rams of the breed of Bashan, and goats, With the choicest wheat; And you drank wine, the blood of the grapes.

" But you, Israel, [are] My servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, The descendants of Abraham My friend.

[You] whom I have taken from the ends of the earth, And called from its farthest regions, And said to you, 'You [are] My servant, I have chosen you and have not cast you away:

Since you were precious in My sight, You have been honored, And I have loved you; Therefore I will give men for you, And people for your life.

The LORD has appeared of old to me, [saying:] "Yes, I have loved you with an everlasting love; Therefore with lovingkindness I have drawn you.

Concerning the gospel [they are] enemies for your sake, but concerning the election [they are] beloved for the sake of the fathers.

For the gifts and the calling of God [are] irrevocable.

" A son honors [his] father, And a servant [his] master. If then I am the Father, Where [is] My honor? And if I [am] a Master, Where [is] My reverence? Says the LORD of hosts To you priests who despise My name. Yet you say, 'In what way have we despised Your name?'

"[You] offer defiled food on My altar. But say, 'In what way have we defiled You?' By saying, 'The table of the LORD is contemptible.'

You have wearied the LORD with your words; Yet you say, "In what way have we wearied [Him?"] In that you say, "Everyone who does evil [Is] good in the sight of the LORD, And He delights in them," Or, "Where [is] the God of justice?"

Yet from the days of your fathers You have gone away from My ordinances And have not kept [them.] Return to Me, and I will return to you," Says the LORD of hosts. "But you said, 'In what way shall we return?'

"Will a man rob God? Yet you have robbed Me! But you say, 'In what way have we robbed You?' In tithes and offerings.

" Your words have been harsh against Me," Says the LORD, "Yet you say, 'What have we spoken against You?'

You have said, 'It is useless to serve God; What profit [is it] that we have kept His ordinance, And that we have walked as mourners Before the LORD of hosts?

Thus says the LORD: "What injustice have your fathers found in Me, That they have gone far from Me, Have followed idols, And have become idolaters?

"O generation, see the word of the LORD! Have I been a wilderness to Israel, Or a land of darkness? Why do My people say, 'We are lords; We will come no more to You'?

But he, wanting to justify himself, said to Jesus, "And who is my neighbor?"

And the LORD said to her:"Two nations [are] in your womb, Two peoples shall be separated from your body; [One] people shall be stronger than the other, And the older shall serve the younger."

And he came near and kissed him; and he smelled the smell of his clothing, and blessed him and said: "Surely, the smell of my son [Is] like the smell of a field Which the LORD has blessed.

Let peoples serve you, And nations bow down to you. Be master over your brethren, And let your mother's sons bow down to you. Cursed [be] everyone who curses you, And blessed [be] those who bless you!"

"May God Almighty bless you, And make you fruitful and multiply you, That you may be an assembly of peoples;

And give you the blessing of Abraham, To you and your descendants with you, That you may inherit the land In which you are a stranger, Which God gave to Abraham."

And behold, the LORD stood above it and said: "I [am] the LORD God of Abraham your father and the God of Isaac; the land on which you lie I will give to you and your descendants.

"Also your descendants shall be as the dust of the earth; you shall spread abroad to the west and the east, to the north and the south; and in you and in your seed all the families of the earth shall be blessed.

And He said, "Your name shall no longer be called Jacob, but Israel; for you have struggled with God and with men, and have prevailed."

And Jacob called the name of the place Peniel: "For I have seen God face to face, and my life is preserved."

"and said to me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people, and give this land to your descendants after you [as] an everlasting possession.'

And not only [this,] but when Rebecca also had conceived by one man, [even] by our father Isaac

it was said to her, "The older shall serve the younger."