Deuteronomy 7:6 (DBY)

Passage

For a holy people art thou unto Jehovah thy God: Jehovah thy God hath chosen thee to be unto him a people for a possession, above all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth.

Nearby Context

Deuteronomy 7:4 for he will turn away thy son from following me, and they will serve other gods, and the anger of Jehovah will be kindled against you, and he will destroy thee quickly.

Deuteronomy 7:5 But thus shall ye deal with them: ye shall break down their altars, and shatter their statues, and hew down their Asherahs, and burn their graven images with fire.

Deuteronomy 7:6 For a holy people art thou unto Jehovah thy God: Jehovah thy God hath chosen thee to be unto him a people for a possession, above all the peoples that are upon the face of the earth.

Deuteronomy 7:7 Not because ye were more in number than all the peoples, hath Jehovah been attached to you and chosen you, for ye are the fewest of all the peoples;

Deuteronomy 7:8 but because Jehovah loved you, and because he would keep the oath which he had sworn unto your fathers, hath Jehovah brought you out with a powerful hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "holy", "people", "thou", "jehovah", "hath", "chosen", and "thee". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "holy" and "people", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 5's "But thus shall ye deal with them..." into verse 7's "Not because ye were more in number...", so "holy" and "people" belong inside that flow. In Deuteronomy context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "holy" and "people" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.