Exodus 19 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.
Time Period
~1446 BC on the earlier dating, or ~1260 BC on the later one, in the third month after the departure from Egypt
Location
The desert of Sinai, at the foot of Mount Sinai, a granite peak in the southern Sinai peninsula traditionally identified with Jebel Musa
Audience
The people of Israel and the later generations who read Exodus as the charter of their national life
Situation
Israel camps in front of the mountain and God offers them a covenant, promising that if they obey they will be his treasured possession, a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. The people agree, then spend three days consecrating themselves before the mountain erupts in smoke, fire, thunder and a trumpet blast as God descends.
Key Background
Ancient treaties between a great king and a lesser one followed a set pattern: the king recalled what he had already done for the weaker party, then set out terms, and the arrangement was sealed publicly. God's opening line about carrying Israel on eagles' wings follows that pattern exactly, which is why the covenant reads like a formal state document rather than a private religious experience. The barrier around the mountain and the ban on touching it reflect the ancient assumption that holiness is dangerous in the way high voltage is dangerous, not merely a matter of respect. The description of fire, smoke and a shaking mountain also matches how ancient peoples pictured a god appearing in person, but here the appearance happens in front of an entire nation rather than a lone priest.
In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt — on that exact day — they came to the Sinai
They had set out from and when they entered the Sinai wilderness, Israel set up camp there in front of the mountain.
Moses went up to God, and Yahweh called out to him from the mountain: "This is what you should tell — announce it to the Israelites:
You've seen with your own eyes what I did to Egypt, and how I carried you on and you to
So now, if you truly to my and keep my you will be my most out of all peoples — because the whole earth belongs to me,
and you will be for me a of and a that to These are the words you should speak to the Israelites."
So Moses went back and called for the of the people, and laid out all these words that Yahweh had told him to say.
All the people answered together, "Everything Yahweh has said, we will do." And Moses brought the people's answer back to Yahweh.
Yahweh said to Moses, "I'm going to come to you in a so the people can hear me speaking with you and will you from then on." Then Moses reported what the people had said back to Yahweh.
Yahweh told Moses, "Go to the people and them today and tomorrow. They should wash their clothes,
and be ready by the third day, because on the third day Yahweh will come down on where everyone can see it.
Set around the mountain for the people and tell them: 'Watch yourselves — don't go up the mountain or even touch the edge of it. Anyone who touches the mountain will definitely be put to death.
No hand should touch that person — they must be stoned or shot through with arrows. Whether animal or human, they will not be allowed to live.' Only when the sounds a long blast may they go up to the mountain."
Moses went down from the mountain to the people and had them prepare themselves, and they washed their clothes.
He told the people, "Be ready by the third day. Don't be with your wives."
On the morning of the third day, there was and and a heavy cloud sat on the mountain, and the blast of a ram's horn was so loud that everyone in the camp
Moses led the people out of the camp to and they stood at the foot of the mountain.
Mount Sinai was completely covered in smoke because Yahweh had come down on it in The smoke rose like smoke from a furnace, and the whole mountain
As the blast of the ram's horn grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him with a
Yahweh came down onto the top of Mount Sinai, and he called Moses up to the top of the mountain. So Moses went up.
Yahweh said to Moses, "Go back down and warn the people not to push past the boundaries to look at Yahweh, or many of them will die.
Even the who approach Yahweh must prepare themselves, or Yahweh will out them."
Moses said to Yahweh, "The people can't come up Mount Sinai because you yourself warned us: 'Set boundaries around the mountain and treat it as
Yahweh told him, "Go down, and then come back up with But the priests and the people must not push past the boundaries to come up to Yahweh, or he will break out against them."
So Moses went down to the people and told them.