'Choice' in the Bible

“Tying his foal to the [strong] vineAnd his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,He washes his clothing in wine [because the grapevine produces abundantly],And his robes in the blood of grapes.

Kish had a son named Saul, a choice and handsome man; among the sons of Israel there was not a man more handsome than he. From his shoulders and up he was [a head] taller than any of the people.

Now when Joab saw that the battlefront was against him in front and in the rear, he selected some of all the choice men in Israel and set them in battle formation to meet the Arameans (Syrians).

ten fat oxen, twenty pasture-fed oxen, a hundred sheep not counting fallow deer, gazelles, roebucks, and fattened fowl.

You shall strike every fortified city and every choice (principal) city, and cut down every good tree and stop up all sources of water, and ruin every good piece of land with stones.’”

Now when Joab saw that the battle was set against him in the front and in the rear, he chose warriors from all the choice men of Israel and put them in formation against the Arameans (Syrians).

Amaziah assembled [the men of] Judah and appointed them in accordance with their fathers’ (ancestors’) households under commanders of thousands and of hundreds throughout Judah and Benjamin. He numbered them from twenty years old and above and found there to be 300,000 choice men fit for war and able to handle spear and shield.

Then they burned the house of God and tore down the wall of Jerusalem, and burned all its fortified buildings with fire, and destroyed all its valuable articles.

Now the following were prepared for each day: one ox and six choice sheep; also fowls (poultry) were prepared for me; and in intervals of ten days all sorts of wine was provided in abundance. Yet for all this, I did not demand the governor’s food allowance, because the servitude was heavy on this people.

Therefore the Jews of the villages, who live in the rural [unwalled] towns, make the fourteenth day of the month of Adar a holiday for rejoicing and feasting and sending choice portions of food to one another.

because on those days the Jews rid themselves of their enemies, and as the month which was turned for them from grief to joy and from mourning into a holiday; that they should make them days of feasting and rejoicing and sending choice portions of food to one another and gifts to the poor.

Let the righteous [thoughtfully] strike (correct) me—it is a kindness [done to encourage my spiritual maturity].It is [the choicest anointing] oil on the head;Let my head not refuse [to accept and acknowledge and learn from] it;For still my prayer is against their wicked deeds.

The [reverent] fear of the Lord [that is, worshiping Him and regarding Him as truly awesome] is the beginning and the preeminent part of knowledge [its starting point and its essence];But arrogant fools despise [skillful and godly] wisdom and instruction and self-discipline.

“Take my instruction rather than [seeking] silver,And take knowledge rather than choicest gold,

“My fruit is better than gold, even pure gold,And my yield is better than choicest silver.

The [reverent] fear of the Lord [that is, worshiping Him and regarding Him as truly awesome] is the beginning and the preeminent part of wisdom [its starting point and its essence],And the knowledge of the Holy One is understanding and spiritual insight.

The tongue of the righteous is like precious silver (greatly valued);The heart of the wicked is worth little.

“Draw me away with you and let us run together!Let the king bring me into his chambers.”

But my dove, my perfect one, stands alone [above them all];She is her mother’s only daughter;She is the pure child of the one who bore her.The maidens saw her and called her blessed and happy,The queens and the concubines also, and they praised her, saying,

“The mandrakes give forth fragrance,And over our doors are all [kinds of] choice fruits,Both new and old,Which I have saved up for you, my beloved.

For the fields of Heshbon have languished and withered, and the vines of Sibmah as well;The lords of the nations have trampled down [Moab’s] choice vine branches,Which reached as far as Jazer and wandered into the wilderness;Its tendrils stretched out, they passed over [the shores of] the [Dead] Sea.

“Yet I had planted you [O house of Israel as] a choice vine,A completely faithful seed.How then have you turned against MeInto degenerate shoots of a foreign and wild vine [alien to Me]?

“Wail, you shepherds, and cry;And roll in ashes, you masters of the flock.For the days of your slaughter and of your dispersions have come in full,And you will fall and be broken into pieces like a choice vessel.

Kill all her young bulls [her strength—her young men];Let them go down to the slaughter!Woe (judgment is coming) to the Chaldeans, for their day has come,The time of their punishment.

“Put in it the pieces [of meat],Every good piece (the people of Jerusalem), the thigh and the shoulder;Fill it with choice bones.

‘Therefore, thus says the Lord God,“Woe (judgment is coming) to the bloody city,To the pot in which there is rustAnd whose rust has not gone out of it!Take out of it piece by piece,Without making any choice.

They traded with you in choice fabrics and garments, in clothes of blue or violet and embroidered work, and in [treasures of] multi-colored damask and knotted carpets bound with tightly wound cords, which were among your merchandise.

I made the nations quake at the sound of its fall when I cast it down to Sheol with those who descend into the pit; and all the well-watered trees of Eden, the choicest and the best of Lebanon, will be comforted in the earth beneath [at Assyria’s downfall].

In that very hour He was overjoyed and rejoiced greatly in the Holy Spirit, and He said, “I praise You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things [relating to salvation] from the wise and intelligent, and have revealed them to infants [the childlike and untaught]. Yes, Father, for this way was [Your gracious will and choice, and was] well-pleasing in Your sight.

He said to them, “It is not for you to know the times or epochs which the Father has fixed by His own authority.

After a long debate, Peter got up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles would hear the message of the gospel and believe.

and though the twins were not yet born and had not done anything either good or bad, so that God’s purpose [His choice, His election] would stand, not because of works [done by either child], but because of [the plan of] Him who calls them,

From the standpoint of the gospel, the Jews [at present] are enemies [of God] for your sake [which is for your benefit], but from the standpoint of God’s choice [of the Jews as His people], they are still loved by Him for the sake of the fathers.

Only be careful that this liberty of yours [this power to choose] does not somehow become a stumbling block [that is, a temptation to sin] to the weak [in conscience].

Paul, an apostle (special messenger, personally chosen representative) of Christ Jesus (the Messiah, the Anointed), by the will of God [that is, by His purpose and choice],To the saints (God’s people) who are at Ephesus and are faithful and loyal and steadfast in Christ Jesus:

For you know that later on, when he wanted [to regain title to] his inheritance of the blessing, he was rejected, for he found no opportunity for repentance [there was no way to repair what he had done, no chance to recall the choice he had made], even though he sought for it with [bitter] tears.