Deuteronomy 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.

Deuteronomy 4:37-38

4:37 Moreover, because he loved ³  your ancestors, he chose their ⁴  descendants who followed them and personally brought you out of Egypt with his great power 4:38 to dispossess nations greater and stronger than you and brought you here this day to give you their land as your property. ⁵ 

Deuteronomy 4:45

4:45 These are the stipulations, statutes, and ordinances that Moses spoke to the Israelites after he had brought them out of Egypt,

Deuteronomy 6:21-22

6:21 you must say to them, ⁶  “We were Pharaoh’s slaves in Egypt, but the Lord brought us out of Egypt in a powerful way. ⁷  6:22 And he ⁸  brought signs and great, devastating wonders on Egypt, on Pharaoh, and on his whole family ⁹  before our very eyes.

Deuteronomy 8:14

8:14 be sure ¹⁰  you do not feel self-important and forget the Lord your God who brought you from the land of Egypt, the place of slavery,

Deuteronomy 16:1

The Passover-Unleavened Bread Festival

16:1 Observe the month Abib ¹¹  and keep the Passover to the Lord your God, for in that month ¹²  he ¹³  brought you out of Egypt by night.

Deuteronomy 26:8

26:8 Therefore the Lord brought us out of Egypt with tremendous strength and power, ¹⁴  as well as with great awe-inspiring signs and wonders.

---

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.

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.

³ tn The concept of love here is not primarily that of emotional affection but of commitment or devotion. This verse suggests that God chose Israel to be his special people because he loved the patriarchs (Abraham, Isaac, Jacob) and had promised to bless their descendants. See as well Deut 7:7-9.

⁴ tc The LXX, Smr, Syriac, Targum, and Vulgate read a third person masculine plural suffix for the MT’s 3rd person masculine singular, “his descendants.” Cf. Deut 10:15. Quite likely the MT should be emended in this instance.

⁵ tn Heb “(as) an inheritance,” that is, landed property that one can pass on to one’s descendants.

⁶ tn Heb “to your son.”

⁷ tn Heb “by a strong hand.” The image is that of a warrior who, with weapon in hand, overcomes his enemies. The Lord is commonly depicted as a divine warrior in the Book of Deuteronomy (cf. 5:15; 7:8; 9:26; 26:8).

⁸ tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on the word “his” in v. 17.

⁹ tn Heb “house,” referring to the entire household.

¹⁰ tn The words “be sure” are not in the Hebrew text; vv. 12-14 are part of the previous sentence. For stylistic reasons a new sentence was started at the beginning of v. 12 in the translation and the words “be sure” repeated from v. 11 to indicate the connection.

¹¹ sn The month Abib, later called Nisan (Neh 2:1; Esth 3:7), corresponds to March-April in the modern calendar.

¹² tn Heb “in the month Abib.” The demonstrative “that” has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

¹³ tn Heb “the Lord your God.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

¹⁴ tn Heb “by a powerful hand and an extended arm.” These are anthropomorphisms designed to convey God’s tremendously great power in rescuing Israel from their Egyptian bondage. They are preserved literally in many English versions (cf. KJV, NAB, NIV, NRSV).