Has taken you and brought you forth: the two verbs describe two actions in sequence; God asserted his dominion over the Hebrews and then delivered them from bondage in Egypt. In this way he made them his own people, exclusively his.

Out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt: see the same description of Egypt in 1 Kgs 8.51; Jer 11.4 (see also Isa 48.10). This is a figure of intolerable suffering; translations in general try to keep the figure, translating variously: Revised English Bible “the smelting-furnace”; New Revised Standard Version “the iron-smelter”; New Jerusalem Bible “the iron-foundry”; New International Version “iron-smelting furnace”; New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh “blast furnace.” These all sound somewhat technical, and something more general like “a blazing furnace” or “a red-hot furnace” is surely more effective. However, in many languages it will be necessary to use a simile here; for example, “brought you out of Egypt, where you suffered terribly like being in a red-hot furnace.”

To be a people of his own possession: this is the first time the phrase is used of the people as Yahweh’s possession; elsewhere it has indicated the land of Canaan as Israel’s possession (see 3.28). The fact that they are the LORD’s people is shown by his rescuing them from Egypt. So we may translate “But today you are still the LORD’s people, because he rescued you from Egypt, where you suffered terribly like….”

As at this day: this sounds like a later addition to the text, but its use here does not disrupt the flow of the narrative too much. New Jerusalem Bible has “as you still are today.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .