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Deuteronomy 4:20-22
New English Translation

20 You, however, the Lord has selected and brought from Egypt, that iron-smelting furnace,[a] to be his special people[b] as you are today. 21 But the Lord became angry with me because of you and vowed that I would never cross the Jordan nor enter the good land that he[c] is about to give you.[d] 22 So I must die here in this land; I will not cross the Jordan. But you are going over and will possess that[e] good land.

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 4:20 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. Deuteronomy 4:20 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. Deuteronomy 4:21 tn Heb “the Lord your God.” See note on “he” in 4:3.
  4. Deuteronomy 4:21 tn The Hebrew text includes “(as) an inheritance,” or “(as) a possession.”
  5. Deuteronomy 4:22 tn Heb “this.” The translation uses “that” to avoid confusion; earlier in the verse Moses refers to Transjordan as “this land.”
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Deuteronomy 3
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