Ulangan 4:20

4:20 You, however, the Lord has selected and brought from Egypt, that iron-smelting furnace, ¹  to be his special people ²  as you are today.

Ulangan 18:2

18:2 They ³  will have no inheritance in the midst of their fellow Israelites; ⁴  the Lord alone is their inheritance, just as he had told them.

Ulangan 29:12-13

29:12 so that you may enter by oath into the covenant the Lord your God is making with you today. ⁵  29:13 Today he will affirm that you are his people and that he is your God, ⁶  just as he promised you and as he swore by oath to your ancestors ⁷  Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

[4:20]  ¹ tn A כּוּר (kur) was not a source of heat but a crucible (“iron-smelting furnace”) in which precious metals were melted down and their impurities burned away (see I. Cornelius, NIDOTTE 2:618-19); cf. NAB “that iron foundry, Egypt.” The term is a metaphor for intense heat. Here it refers to the oppression and suffering Israel endured in Egypt. Since a crucible was used to burn away impurities, it is possible that the metaphor views Egypt as a place of refinement to bring Israel to a place of submission to divine sovereignty.

[4:20]  ² tn Heb “to be his people of inheritance.” The Lord compares his people to valued property inherited from one’s ancestors and passed on to one’s descendants.

[18:2]  ³ tn Heb “he” (and throughout the verse).

[18:2]  ⁴ tn Heb “brothers,” but not referring to actual siblings. Cf. NASB “their countrymen”; NRSV “the other members of the community.”

[29:12]  ⁵ tn Heb “for you to pass on into the covenant of the Lord your God and into his oath, which the Lord your God is cutting with you today.”

[29:13]  ⁶ tn Heb “in order to establish you today to him for a people and he will be to you for God.” Verses 10-13 are one long sentence in Hebrew. The translation divides this into two sentences for stylistic reasons.

[29:13]  ⁷ tn Heb “fathers” (also in v. 25).