12 Happy is the nation whose God* is Jehovah,+
The people whom he has chosen as his inheritance.+
8 “But you, O Israel, are my servant,+ you, O Jacob, whom I have chosen,+ the seed* of Abraham+ my friend;*+
44 “And now listen, O Jacob my servant,+ and you, O Israel, whom I have chosen.+
9 But YOU are “a chosen race,* a royal priesthood, a holy nation,+ a people for special possession,+ that YOU should declare abroad the excellencies”*+ of the one that called YOU out of darkness into his wonderful light.+