1 Kings 8:51

8:51 After all, ¹  they are your people and your special possession ²  whom you brought out of Egypt, from the middle of the iron-smelting furnace. ³ 

1 Kings 14:7

14:7 Go, tell Jeroboam, ‘This is what the Lord God of Israel says: “I raised you up ⁴  from among the people and made you ruler over my people Israel.

[8:51]  ¹ tn Or “for.”

[8:51]  ² tn Heb “inheritance.”

[8:51]  ³ 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.

[14:7]  ⁴ tn The Hebrew text has “because” at the beginning of the sentence. In the Hebrew text vv. 7-11 are one long sentence comprised of a causal clause giving the reason for divine punishment (vv. 7-9) and the main clause announcing the punishment (vv. 10-11). The translation divides this lengthy sentence for stylistic reasons.