baḥir

בָּחִיר is a passive adjective (qatil pattern) from the root בחר "to choose," used substantivally as "the chosen one, the elect." Its referent is always one chosen by YHWH: David (Ps 89:4[Eng 89:3]), the Servant on whom the Spirit rests (Isa 42:1), and Moses interceding in the breach (Ps 106:23). Predominantly it designates Israel/Jacob as the covenant people (Isa 43:20; 45:4; 1 Chr 16:13; Ps 105:6, 43; 106:5). In Trito-Isaiah the term narrows to the faithful servants/remnant who inherit the land (Isa 65:9, 15, 22). 2 Sam 21:6 applies it to Saul as "the chosen of YHWH," a reading retained by MT though occasionally emended. The lexica (HALOT, BDB) treat the word as a single sense; the individual-versus-collective distinction drawn here is referential rather than lexicalized. The Greek ἐκλεκτός renders the concept in the LXX and echoes it at Luke 23:35 ("the Christ, the chosen of God"), recalling Isa 42:1.