A TREASURED POSSESSION — a rare word, used elsewhere of a king's own private wealth, the personal fund a monarch keeps distinct from the state treasury (1 Chronicles 29:3; Ecclesiastes 2:8). ⚠ At Exodus 19:5, offered to the whole nation of Israel, among a whole earth God already owns — not generic favor, but something closer to a king's own private holding. KJV 'a peculiar treasure' (Elizabethan English for 'one's own, particular'), now easily misheard as 'a strange treasure'; ASV/NIV/ESV 'own possession'/'treasured possession.' The same word recurs of Israel at Deuteronomy 7:6, 14:2, 26:18, and of the faithful remnant at Malachi 3:17. → first discussed at Exod 19:5