Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 4:20
Yet the LORD has taken you and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be the people of His inheritance, as you are today.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses addresses Israel on the plains of Moab, using God's past deliverance from Egypt to ground a warning against idolatry and to mark the moment before his own exclusion from the Jordan crossing.
The words — לָקַח (la.Kach, "he took") and מִכּוּר הַבַּרְזֶל (mi.Kur ha.barez, "from the furnace of iron") record Yahweh's direct action in extracting the people from bondage.
The thread — The furnace motif reappears in 1 Kings 8:51 and Jeremiah 11:4, both citing the same deliverance to define Israel's covenant status.
Why it lands — The text states that Yahweh removed Israel from Egypt to establish them as His inheritance, a factual claim that precedes the inference that their present identity depends entirely on His prior action.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
But the Lord hath taken you, and brought you forth out of the iron furnace, even out of Egypt, to be unto him a people of inheritance, as ye are this day.
Cross-references
- 1 Kings 8:51 For they are Your people and Your inheritance; You brought them out of Egypt, out of the furnace for iron.
- Jeremiah 11:4 which I commanded your forefathers when I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace, saying, ‘Obey Me, and do everything I command you, and you will be My people, and I will be your God.’
- Exodus 19:5 Now if you will indeed obey My voice and keep My covenant, you will be My treasured possession out of all the nations—for the whole earth is Mine.
- Deuteronomy 9:29 But they are Your people, Your inheritance, whom You brought out by Your great power and outstretched arm.”
- Deuteronomy 32:9 But the LORD’s portion is His people, Jacob His allotted inheritance.
- Psalms 135:4 For the LORD has chosen Jacob as His own, Israel as His treasured possession.
- Isaiah 63:17 Why, O LORD, do You make us stray from Your ways and harden our hearts from fearing You? Return, for the sake of Your servants, the tribes of Your heritage.
- Titus 2:14 He gave Himself for us to redeem us from all lawlessness and to purify for Himself a people for His own possession, zealous for good deeds.
- 1 Peter 2:9 But you are a chosen people, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, to proclaim the virtues of Him who called you out of darkness into His marvelous light.
- Deuteronomy 9:26 And I prayed to the LORD and said, “O Lord GOD, do not destroy Your people, Your inheritance, whom You redeemed through Your greatness and brought out of Egypt with a mighty hand.