'Set apart' in the Bible

Then Abraham set apart seven ewe lambs of the flock,

and Abimelech said to Abraham, “What is the meaning of these seven ewe lambs which you have set apart?”

But on that day I will separate and set apart the land of Goshen, where My people are living, so that no swarms of insects will be there, so that you may know [without any doubt] and acknowledge that I, the Lord, am in the midst of the earth.

“Sanctify to Me [that is, set apart for My purpose] every firstborn, the first offspring of every womb among the children of Israel, both of man and of animal; it is Mine.”

you shall set apart and dedicate to the Lord all that first opens the womb. All the firstborn males of your livestock shall be the Lord’s.

and you shall be to Me a kingdom of priests and a holy nation [set apart for My purpose].’ These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.”

Also have the priests who approach the Lord consecrate (sanctify, set apart) themselves [for My sacred purpose], or else the Lord will break forth [in judgment] against them [and destroy them].”

You are to make sacred garments [official clothing reserved for holy services] for Aaron your brother, for honor and for beauty (ornamentation).

You shall consecrate the waved breast offering [of the ram] used in the ordination and the waved thigh offering of the priests’ portion, since it is [a contribution] for Aaron and for his sons.

“You shall take the ram of the ordination and boil its meat in a holy place.

They shall eat those things by which atonement was made at their ordination and consecration; but a layman shall not eat them, because they are holy [that is, set apart to the worship of God].

And if any of the meat of ordination or the bread remains until morning, you shall burn it in the fire; it shall not be eaten, because it is holy.

For seven days you shall make atonement for the altar [of burnt offering] and consecrate it; then the altar shall be most holy. Whatever touches the altar must be holy (set apart for God’s service).

You shall consecrate them, that they may be most holy; whatever touches them must be holy (set apart for God).

You shall anoint the altar of burnt offering and all its utensils, and consecrate the altar, and the altar shall be most holy.

Whatever touches its meat will become consecrated (ceremonially clean). When any of its blood splashes on a garment, you shall wash what was splashed on in a holy place.

You are therefore to make a distinction between the [ceremonially] clean animal and the unclean, and between the unclean bird and the clean; and you shall not make yourselves detestable by animal or by bird or by anything that crawls on the ground, which I have set apart from you as unclean.

then, when you eat the food of the land, you shall lift up an offering (heave offering) to the Lord.

You shall lift up a cake made of the first of your [ground grain which has been made into] dough as an offering [to the Lord]; as an offering from the threshing floor, so shall you lift it up.

Then Moses set apart three cities [of refuge] beyond the Jordan toward the rising of the sun (eastward),

For you are a holy people [set apart] to the Lord your God; the Lord your God has chosen you out of all the peoples on the face of the earth to be a people for His own possession [that is, His very special treasure].

At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord, to stand before the Lord to serve Him and to bless in His name until this day.

for you are a holy people [set apart] to the Lord your God; and the Lord has chosen you out of all the peoples who are on the earth to be a people for His own possession.

“You shall consecrate (set apart) to the Lord your God all the firstborn males that are born of your herd and flock. You shall not work with the firstborn of your herd, nor shear the firstborn of your flock.

you shall designate three cities for yourself in the central area of the land, which the Lord your God is giving you to possess.

Therefore, I command you, saying, ‘You shall set aside three cities [of refuge] for yourself.’

Rise up! Consecrate the people and say, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for thus says the Lord, the God of Israel: “There are things under the ban among you, O Israel. You cannot stand [victorious] before your enemies until you remove the things under the ban from among you.”

with the cities which were set apart for the sons of Ephraim within the inheritance of the sons of Manasseh, all the cities with their villages.

So they set apart and consecrated Kedesh in Galilee in the hill country of Naphtali, and Shechem in the hill country of Ephraim, and Kiriath-arba (that is, Hebron) in the hill country of Judah.

David answered the priest, “Be assured that women have been kept from us in these three days since I set out, and the bodies of the young men were consecrated (ceremonially clean), although it was an ordinary (unconsecrated) journey; so how much more will their vessels be holy today?”

The sons of Amram: Aaron and Moses. Aaron was set apart to consecrate him as most holy, he and his sons forever, to burn incense before the Lord, attend to His service, and to bless [worshipers] in His name forever.

For now I have chosen and sanctified and set apart for My purpose this house that My Name may be here forever, and My eyes and My heart will be here perpetually.

They opposed King Uzziah and said to him, “It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord, but for the priests, the sons of Aaron who have been consecrated to burn incense. Get out of the sanctuary, for you have been unfaithful and will have no honor from the Lord God.”

also 220 of the temple servants, whom David and the leaders had set apart [with their descendants] for the service of the Levites. They were all designated by name.

Then I set apart twelve leading priests, Sherebiah, Hashabiah, and ten of their brothers (relatives),

So in the days of Zerubbabel and [later of] Nehemiah, all Israel would give the daily portions for the singers and the gatekeepers; and they set apart the consecrated portion for the Levites, and the Levites set apart the consecrated portion for the sons of Aaron [the priests].

But know that the Lord has set apart for Himself [and dealt wonderfully with] the godly man [the one of honorable character and moral courage—the one who does right].The Lord hears and responds when I call to Him.

Who say, ‘Keep to yourself, do not come near me,For I am too holy for you [and you might defile me]!’These [people] are smoke in My nostrils,A fire that burns all the day.

“Israel was holy [something set apart from ordinary purposes, consecrated] to the Lord,The first fruits of His harvest [in which no outsider was allowed to share].All who ate of it [injuring Israel] became guilty;Evil came on them,” says the Lord.’”

You shall not carry a load out of your houses on the Sabbath day nor do any work, but keep the Sabbath day holy [by setting it apart as a day of worship], as I commanded your fathers.

But it will come about, if you listen diligently to Me,” says the Lord, “to bring no load in through the gates of this city on the Sabbath day, but keep the Sabbath day holy by doing no work on it,

But if you will not listen to Me and keep the Sabbath day holy by not carrying a load as you come in the gates of Jerusalem on the Sabbath day, then I will kindle a fire in her gates that cannot be extinguished, and it will devour the palaces of Jerusalem.”’”

“For I will prepare and appoint destroyers [to execute My judgments] against you,Each with his weapons;And they will cut down your [palaces built of] choicest cedarsAnd throw them in the fire.

See, O Lord, and look!With whom have You dealt this way?Should women eat their offspring,The little ones who were born healthy and beautiful?Should priest and prophet be killedIn the sanctuary of the Lord?

and say, ‘Thus says the Lord God,“Behold, I am against you, O Sidon,And I will show My glory and be glorified in your midst.Then they will know [by personal experience] that I am the Lord when I bring judgment and punishment on her,And I will manifest My holiness in her.

‘Thus says the Lord God, “When I gather the house of Israel from the nations among whom they are scattered, and I manifest my Holiness in them in the sight of the nations, then they will live in their own land which I gave to My servant Jacob.

I will vindicate the holiness of My great name which has been profaned among the nations, which you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord,” says the Lord God, “when I prove Myself holy among you in their sight.

Then the nations will know [without any doubt] that I am the Lord who sets apart and sanctifies Israel [for holy use], when My sanctuary is in their midst forever.”’”

“They will elect men who will constantly go through the land, [men commissioned] to bury those who were passing through, those bodies that lie unburied on the surface of the ground, in order to cleanse it. At the end of seven months they will do a search.

When I bring them back from the nations and gather them out of their enemies’ lands, then I shall show Myself holy [and My justice and holiness will be vindicated] through them in the sight of many nations.

When the priests enter [the Holy Place], they shall not go out from the sanctuary into the outer court unless they lay there their garments in which they minister, for these are holy (set apart). They shall put on other garments before they approach that which is for the people.”

This is the law of the temple: Its entire area all around on the top of the mountain (Mount Moriah) shall be most holy. Behold, this is the law of the temple.

When they go out into the outer court, into the outer courtyard to the people, they shall take off the garments in which they have been ministering and leave them in the holy chambers; then they shall put on other clothing so that they will not transmit holiness to the people with their [ceremonial] garments.

“Moreover, when you divide the land by lot for inheritance, you shall [set apart and] offer an allotment (contribution) to the Lord, a holy portion of the land [to be used for sacred purposes]. The length shall be 25,000 cubits, and the width shall be 20,000 cubits. It shall be holy (set apart for sacred use) within its every area.

It shall be the holy portion of the land; it shall be for the priests, the ministers of the sanctuary, who come near to minister to the Lord, and it shall be a place for their houses and a holy place for the sanctuary.

The allotment [of land] that you shall set apart and offer to the Lord shall be 25,000 cubits in length and 10,000 in width.

It shall be for the priests who are sanctified of the sons of Zadok, who have kept My charge, and who did not go astray when the children (descendants) of Israel went astray as the [other] Levites did.

The whole allotment shall be 25,000 by 25,000 cubits; you shall set apart the holy allotment, a square, with the property of the city.

Blow a trumpet in Zion [warning of impending judgment],Dedicate a fast [as a day of restraint and humility], call a solemn assembly.

[Hush!] Be silent before the Lord God [there is no acceptable excuse to offer]!For the day [of the vengeance] of the Lord is near,For the Lord has prepared a sacrifice (Judah),He has set apart [for His use] those who have accepted His invitation [the Chaldeans who rule Babylon].

(as it is written in the Law of the Lord, “Every firstborn male that opens the womb shall be called holy [set apart and dedicated] to the Lord)”

[if that is true] then do you say of Him whom the Father sanctified and set apart for Himself and sent into the world, ‘You are blaspheming,’ because I said, ‘I am the Son of God’?

And now I commend you to God [placing you in His protective, loving care] and [I commend you] to the word of His grace [the counsel and promises of His unmerited favor]. His grace is able to build you up and to give you the [rightful] inheritance among all those who are sanctified [that is, among those who are set apart for God’s purpose—all believers].

Paul, a bond-servant of Christ Jesus, called as an apostle (special messenger, personally chosen representative), set apart for [preaching] the gospel of God [the good news of salvation],

And such were some of you [before you believed]. But you were washed [by the atoning sacrifice of Christ], you were sanctified [set apart for God, and made holy], you were justified [declared free of guilt] in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and in the [Holy] Spirit of our God [the source of the believer’s new life and changed behavior].

For the unbelieving husband is sanctified [that is, he receives the blessings granted] through his [Christian] wife, and the unbelieving wife is sanctified through her believing husband. Otherwise your children would be [ceremonially] unclean, but as it is they are holy.

and his interests are divided. The unmarried woman or the virgin is concerned about the matters of the Lord, how to be holy and set apart both in body and in spirit; but a married woman is concerned about worldly things, how she may please her husband.

And all [of them] were baptized into Moses [into his safekeeping as their leader] in the cloud and in the sea;

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:

just as [in His love] He chose us in Christ [actually selected us for Himself as His own] before the foundation of the world, so that we would be holy [that is, consecrated, set apart for Him, purpose-driven] and blameless in His sight. In love

And [I pray] that the eyes of your heart [the very center and core of your being] may be enlightened [flooded with light by the Holy Spirit], so that you will know and cherish the hope [the divine guarantee, the confident expectation] to which He has called you, the riches of His glorious inheritance in the saints (God’s people),

So then you are no longer strangers and aliens [outsiders without rights of citizenship], but you are fellow citizens with the saints (God’s people), and are [members] of God’s household,

For this is the will of God, that you be sanctified [separated and set apart from sin]: that you abstain and back away from sexual immorality;

Therefore, if anyone cleanses himself from these things [which are dishonorable—disobedient, sinful], he will be a vessel for honor, sanctified [set apart for a special purpose and], useful to the Master, prepared for every good work.

Therefore, holy brothers and sisters, who share in the heavenly calling, [thoughtfully and attentively] consider the Apostle and High Priest whom we confessed [as ours when we accepted Him as Savior], namely, Jesus;

Jude, a bond-servant of Jesus Christ, and brother of James, [writes this letter],To those who are the called (God’s chosen ones, the elect), dearly loved by God the Father, and kept [secure and set apart] for Jesus Christ:

The grace of the Lord Jesus (the Christ, the Messiah) be with all [the saints—all believers, those set apart for God]. Amen.