But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that you may show forth the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light:
a peculiar people: The subjects of the dedicated nation are God’s own "peculiar" (peripoyeesis) purchased, acquisitioned people (Deuteronomy 7:6). They, in a unique sense, belong to Him as they could to no other.