The Quran

وَإِذ قالَ موسىٰ لِقَومِهِ يا قَومِ اذكُروا نِعمَةَ اللَّهِ عَلَيكُم إِذ جَعَلَ فيكُم أَنبِياءَ وَجَعَلَكُم مُلوكًا وَآتاكُم ما لَم يُؤتِ أَحَدًا مِنَ العالَمينَ

Muhammad Asad

AND, LO, Moses said unto his people:¹ "O my people! Remember the blessings which God bestowed upon you when he raised up prophets among you, and made you your own masters,² and granted unto you [favours] such as He had not granted to anyone else in the world.

With these words the Qur'an returns to the story of the children of Israel alluded to in verses 12 and 13 - namely, to an illustration of their having "broken their solemn pledge" and gone back on their faith in God. The following story is, moreover, directly connected with the preceding verse inasmuch as Moses appeals here to the children of Israel as "a bearer of glad tidings and a warner".
Lit., "made you kings". According to most of the commentators (e.g., Tabari, Zamakhshari, Razi), the "kingship" of the Israelites is a metaphorical allusion to their freedom and independence after their Egyptian bondage, the term "king" being equivalent here to "a free man who is master of his own affairs" (Manor VI, 323 f.) and can, therefore, adopt any way of life he chooses.