Yahweh didn’t set his love on you, nor choose you, because you were more in number than any people; for you were the fewest of all peoples: but because Yahweh loves you, and because he desires to keep the oath which he swore to your fathers, Yahweh has brought you out with a mighty hand, and redeemed you out of the house of bondage, from the hand of Pharaoh king of Egypt.
⛓ Read Deuteronomy 7 forward — the whole chapter and its afterlife →Where this passage surfaces again, sorted by the strength of the link. Each kind of reuse — formal quotation, deliberate allusion, faint echo, figural pattern — carries its own mark. Follow any reference to read it in place.
Allusion4
A deliberate verbal borrowing without a citation formula.
'Not that we loved God, but that he loved us' restates the Deuteronomic ground of election: the LORD set his love on Israel not for any merit but because he loved them. The priority and gratuity of divine love that precedes any human response shapes John's theology of love originating wholly in God.
High confidence'We love him, because he first loved us' restates the Deuteronomic priority of divine election-love that precedes and grounds any human love for God. The prevenient love of the LORD setting his affection on Israel before any response is the template for John's 'he first loved us.'
High confidenceGod 'saved us and called us... not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace' restates the Deuteronomic logic of election: the LORD set his love on Israel not because of their numbers or merit but because he loved them and kept his oath. Election by sheer gracious purpose is the OT root.
Medium confidence'concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers' sake' (v.28) draws on Deuteronomy's election theology: 'because the LORD loved you... and because he would keep the oath which he swore to your fathers.' The love-of-Israel-for-the-fathers'-sake is the Deuteronomic ground Paul invokes.
Medium confidenceEcho1
A fainter, low-volume reuse, carried by recurrence or thematic coherence.
'You... loved them, even as you loved me' (v23) echoes the LORD setting his love on Israel not for their greatness but because he loved them. The gratuitous divine love for the elect community coheres with the prayer, though John extends it to the disciples through the Son; low Volume.
Low confidence