Through a literary analysis of Exod. 19:4–6a, with particular reference to v. 6a and the phrase ממלכת כהנים, this study has called into question the two prevailing analyses of this unit as being inadequate to do full justice to the text as we have it. The covenant which God established with his people, Israel, at Mt Sinai, according to the book of Exodus, has as one of its central elements a declaration of the honoured standing this people is to have in his sight. In distinction