1 Kings 1:12

1:12 Now ¹  let me give you some advice as to how ²  you can save your life and your son Solomon’s life.

1 Kings 2:37

2:37 If you ever do leave and cross the Kidron Valley, know for sure that you will certainly die! You will be responsible for your own death.” ³ 

1 Kings 8:51

8:51 After all, ⁴  they are your people and your special possession ⁵  whom you brought out of Egypt, from the middle of the iron-smelting furnace. ⁶ 

---

¹ tn Heb “now, come.” The imperative of הָלַךְ (halakh) is here used as an introductory interjection. See BDB 234 s.v. חָלַךְ.

² tn Or “so that.”

³ tn Heb “your blood will be upon your head.”

⁴ tn Or “for.”

⁵ tn Heb “inheritance.”

⁶ tn The Hebrew term כּוּר (kur, “furnace,” cf. Akkadian ku„ru) is a metaphor for the intense heat of purification. A כּוּר 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). Thus Egypt served not as a place of punishment for the Israelites, but as a place of refinement to bring Israel to a place of submission to divine sovereignty.

sn From the middle of the iron-smelting furnace. The metaphor of a furnace suggests fire and heat and is an apt image to remind the people of the suffering they endured while slaves in Egypt.