Hittuk (הִתּוּךְ) denotes the process of melting or smelting metal — the intense heat applied to ore to separate pure metal from dross. It comes from the root nathak (H5413, to pour out, to melt). The term appears in Ezekiel's oracle of judgment against Israel.
The smelting furnace is one of Scripture's most powerful metaphors for divine judgment and purification. Ezekiel 22:17-22 describes Israel as dross in the furnace of Jerusalem — God pouring out wrath to melt away impurity. This is not merely punitive but redemptive: the end goal of hittuk is refined metal, not destruction. Isaiah 48:10 promises, "I have refined you, though not as silver; I have tested you in the furnace of affliction." Malachi's refiner's fire (Mal. 3:2-3) uses this same imagery for the messianic purification.
The root nathak (H5413) means "to pour out" — molten metal is poured. The connection between God's wrath being "poured out" and the smelting process is deliberate: both involve controlled, purposeful heat. Psalm 12:6 describes God's words as "silver purified in a furnace, refined seven times" — the same language applied to divine speech underscores that God's word itself is without dross.