EXODUS 19
The Israelites Reach Mount Sinai
1On the third new moon after the Israelites had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that very day, they came into the wilderness of Sinai. 2They had journeyed from Rephidim, entered the wilderness of Sinai, and camped in the wilderness; Israel camped there in front of the mountain. 3Then Moses went up to God; the LORD called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the Israelites: 4You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings and brought you to myself. 5Now therefore, if you obey my voice and keep my covenant, you shall be my treasured possession out of all the peoples. Indeed, the whole earth is mine, 6but you shall be for me a priestly kingdom and a holy nation. These are the words that you shall speak to the Israelites.”
7So Moses came, summoned the elders of the people, and set before them all these words that the LORD had commanded him. 8The people all answered as one: “Everything that the LORD has spoken we will do.” Moses reported the words of the people to the LORD. 9Then the LORD said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, in order that the people may hear when I speak with you and so trust you ever after.”
The People Consecrated
When Moses had told the words of the people to the LORD, 10the LORD said to Moses: “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. Have them wash their clothes 11and prepare for the third day, because on the third day the LORD will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people. 12You shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Be careful not to go up the mountain or to touch the edge of it. Any who touch the mountain shall be put to death. 13No hand shall touch them, but they shall be stoned or shot with arrows;a whether animal or human being, they shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they may go up on the mountain.” 14So Moses went down from the mountain to the people. He consecrated the people, and they washed their clothes. 15And he said to the people, “Prepare for the third day; do not go near a woman.”
16On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, as well as a thick cloud on the mountain, and a blast of a trumpet so loud that all the people who were in the camp trembled. 17Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. They took their stand at the foot of the mountain. 18Now Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the LORD had descended upon it in fire; the smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently. 19As the blast of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses would speak and God would answer him in thunder. 20When the LORD descended upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain, the LORD summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. 21Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people not to break through to the LORD to look; otherwise many of them will perish. 22Even the priests who approach the LORD must consecrate themselves or the LORD will break out against them.” 23Moses said to the LORD, “The people are not permitted to come up to Mount Sinai; for you yourself warned us, saying, ‘Set limits around the mountain and keep it holy.’” 24The LORD said to him, “Go down, and come up bringing Aaron with you; but do not let either the priests or the people break through to come up to the LORD; otherwise he will break out against them.” 25So Moses went down to the people and told them.
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a Heb lacks with arrows
19.1–24.18 The Sinai revelation, in which context the Ten Commandments (34.28) and the Book of the Covenant (24.7) are presented, is comprised of several units beginning with 19.1–9. The arrangement of diverse sections seems to conclude at 24.18. The laws are surrounded by a covenant framework (19.3–6; 24.1–14) to which the people commit themselves (19.7–25; 24.3–8). Israel remains encamped at Sinai until Num 10.11–12 (second year, second month, twentieth day). Moses’ repeated trips up and down the mountain together with his exclusive admission to the divine presence (cf. 3.5) strengthen his image as divine mediator.
19.1 The Sinai Peninsula contains a large mountainous center; several peaks have been proposed for Mount Sinai, and one in the south-central peninsula (e.g., Jebel Musa, Jebel Serbal) would be most consistent with earlier locations on the route (see 15.23, 27). On the chronology, see Introduction; note on 18.1–27.
19.2 Had journeyed. The Hebrew means only “journeyed” v. 2 chronologically precedes v. 1, making v. 1 look like an overview.
19.3 Then Moses went. Hebrew syntax favors “Moses had gone.” It is unclear in what manifestation the Lord addresses Moses; he is said to descend onto the mountain only on the third day (vv. 16–20). Thus…Israelites, expressed in parallelism (see note on 3.15).
19.4 You have seen, a motif phrase unifying the larger passage (see 20.22; 20.18, where witnessed is lit. “seen”); in Deut 4.12, 15 the aural experience is favored. Eagles’ wings. Cf. Deut 32.11.
19.5 Treasured. For the literal root of the metaphor see 1 Chr 29.3; cf. Deut 7.6; 14.2; 26.18–19; Ps 135.4. Indeed, or “because” the Lord has the right to covenant with any people he wants; see Deut 10.14–15.
19.6 But, not expressed in Hebrew. Priestly. Israel, exposed to the divine presence at Sinai, is meant to maintain a degree of holiness higher than that of other nations just as priests observe more stringent purity rules than other Israelites; see v. 10. Isa 61.6 uses a similar metaphor of restored Judah, and 1 Pet 2.5, 9; Rev 1.6 apply it to the Christian community.
19.7 Elders. Cf., e.g., 3.16; 4.29; 12.21. Typically the Torah does not report that the elders fulfill the mediating function.
19.9 Hear, that the Lord speaks directly to Moses; the people do not seem to discern the words themselves; see 20.18–21; cf. Deut 4.10, 12; 5.22; see note on 19.25. Trust. Cf. 14.31. When…had, not expressed in Hebrew. Syntactically the phrase, “Moses told the words…to the LORD,” which seems to duplicate v. 8b, may belong to what precedes rather than to what follows.
19.10 Consecrate, by rituals of purification and avoidance of defilement (see v. 15); the people must be in a priestly state for the divine encounter (cf. 28.41); cf., e.g., 1 Sam 16.5. Clothes. See Num 8.21.
19.11 Third day. Priests undergo a seven-day rite (29.35). Sight. See note on 19.4.
19.12 Limits, physical boundaries (Deut 20.14). Edge, even the edge.
19.13 No hand shall touch lest the executioner become contaminated or transgress the limit. Stoned or shot, from outside the limit. Vv. 22, 24 describe direct extermination by God, whose holy presence will tolerate no contact with the impure, even impure animals. Trumpet, ram’s horn, used for signaling (Josh 6.5).
19.15 The third day, lit. “three days.” Do not go near a woman. The sexual act ritually defiled one for a day (Deut 23.10–11); cf. 1 Sam 21.4; only adult males are addressed.
19.16–24 The Lord (Yahweh) is described in the conventional imagery of a Canaanite storm god, as in ch. 15 and Pss 18; 29; 68.
19.16 Morning, more precisely “daybreak.” Thick, lit. “heavy.” Trumpet, the more common term, not the one so translated in v. 13. The storm god is a warrior (see 15.3), and the trumpet signals battle (Num 10.9); cf. Zech 9.14. So…that, not in the Hebrew.
19.18 Wrapped in smoke, lit. “all smoking.” Shook, the same Hebrew term rendered trembled in v. 16. In Ugaritic epic and Pss 18.7; 68.8 the earth quakes at the storm god’s appearance.
19.19 Thunder, different in form from thunder in v. 16, more probably “(human) voice” (see 33.11; 1 Sam 3.4–8).
19.20 When, not in the Hebrew, added because v. 18 already reports the Lord’s descent; but The LORD summoned…Moses went up seems prior to v. 19.
19.21 To look, at odds with 20.18–21; Deut 5.5, 25–27. Otherwise, lit. “and (as a result).” Perish, lit. “fall” (32.28) through a divine outburst (see vv. 22, 24; 2 Sam 6.6–8).
19.22 Priests, anachronistic since the priests are not yet commissioned (Lev 8–9). Break out, not the Hebrew word for break through in vv. 21, 24, but the root rendered break out in v. 24 and “burst forth” i
n 2 Sam 6.8; see note on 19.13. The divine presence neutralizes any encroachment; cf. also Lev 10.1–5.
19.23 Limits. See note on 19.12.
19.24 A repetition of vv. 21–22, adding an order to bring Aaron, vaguely anticipating 24.1. Break out. See note on 19.22.
19.25 Told them, rather “said to them,” apparently governing 20.1–17. Moses seems to relate the laws to the people (see note on 19.9).
EXODUS 20
The Ten Commandments
1Then God spoke all these words: 2I am the LORD your God, who brought you out of the land of Egypt, out of the house of slavery; 3you shall have no other gods beforea me.
4You shall not make for yourself an idol, whether in the form of anything that is in heaven above, or that is on the earth beneath, or that is in the water under the earth. 5You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I the LORD your God am a jealous God, punishing children for the iniquity of parents, to the third and the fourth generation of those who reject me, 6but showing steadfast love to the thousandth generationb of those who love me and keep my commandments.
7You shall not make wrongful use of the name of the LORD your God, for the LORD will not acquit anyone who misuses his name.
8Remember the sabbath day, and keep it holy. 9Six days you shall labor and do all your work. 10But the seventh day is a sabbath to the LORD your God; you shall not do any work—you, your son or your daughter, your male or female slave, your livestock, or the alien resident in your towns. 11For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth, the sea, and all that is in them, but rested the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and consecrated it.
12Honor your father and your mother, so that your days may be long in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.
13You shall not murder.c
14You shall not commit adultery.
15You shall not steal.
16You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor.
17You shall not covet your neighbor’s house; you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or male or female slave, or ox, or donkey, or anything that belongs to your neighbor.
18When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraidd and trembled and stood at a distance, 19and said to Moses, “You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, or we will die.” 20Moses said to the people, “Do not be afraid; for God has come only to test you and to put the fear of him upon you so that you do not sin.” 21Then the people stood at a distance, while Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.
The Law concerning the Altar
22The LORD said to Moses: Thus you shall say to the Israelites: “You have seen for yourselves that I spoke with you from heaven. 23You shall not make gods of silver alongside me, nor shall you make for yourselves gods of gold. 24You need make for me only an altar of earth and sacrifice on it your burnt offerings and your offerings of well-being, your sheep and your oxen; in every place where I cause my name to be remembered I will come to you and bless you. 25But if you make for me an altar of stone, do not build it of hewn stones; for if you use a chisel upon it you profane it. 26You shall not go up by steps to my altar, so that your nakedness may not be exposed on it.”
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a Or besides
b Or to thousands
c Or kill
d Sam Gk Syr Vg: MT they saw
20.1–17 The Decalogue comprises a core of ten rules (lit. words, 34.28), essentially prohibitions, addressed to the individual, with no penalties and few details spelled out. Nine of the rules appear variously elsewhere in the Torah, and the core Decalogue is elaborated differently in Deut 5.6–21. Prophets hold Israel accountable for the rules (e.g., Jer 7.9; 29.23; Ezek 18.5–18; 22.6–12; Hos 4.2), and psalms allude to them (e.g., Pss 50.16–19; 81.9–10); see also Mk 10.19; Lk 18.20; Rom 13.9. The severity of the commandments is such that violation of most of them is elsewhere said to be punishable by death. The Decalogue may have served as a creed, as it did later in Judaism and Christianity. The text of the Decalogue will be inscribed by God (31.18; 32.16) and placed in the ark of the covenant (Deut 10.1–5; cf. Ex 25.16, 22).
20.2 A prologue.
20.3 The first rule; cf. 23.24; 34.14; Deut 6.13. Gods. See note on 12.12.
20.4–6 Cf. v. 23; 34.17; Lev 19.4; 26.1; Deut 4.15–20.
20.4 Water under the earth, the subterranean ocean (e.g., Gen 49.25; Ps 24.2). For the division heaven-earth-water, cf. Gen 1. The tabernacle’s iconography depicts creatures not of this world; see note on 25.18.
20.5 Worship. See note on 4.22–23. Jealous. The Hebrew term also connotes zeal (e.g., Num 25.11); cf. Deut 4.24; 6.15. Punishing…parents, lit. “accounting the sins of the fathers to the sons” (cf. 34.7); that God punishes vicariously is denied by Jer 31.29–30; Ezek 18. In contrast to other ancient Near Eastern legislation, vicarious punishment is prohibited in criminal matters (Deut 24.16); but see Josh 7.24; 2 Kings 9.26. Reject, lit. “hate.”
20.6 Steadfast love. See note on 15.13; see also Deut 7.9. Thousandth generation. See Deut 7.9.
20.7 Make wrongful use, particularly in an oath (Lev 6.3; 19.12; Ps 24.4), in which the deity’s name is typically invoked (Deut 6.13; 10.20; cf., e.g., Gen 14.22; 24.3). Acquit, rendered clear…the guilty in 34.7. Misuses, the same Hebrew term rendered make wrongful use of. For a thematic link between this commandment and the preceding two, see 23.13.
20.8–11 Cf. 23.12; 31.12–17; 34.21; 35.1–3; Lev 23.3; Jer 17.19–27.
20.8 Remember. See note on 2.24; in Deut 5.12, “observe” (or “keep”). Sabbath. See note on 16.23. Mesopotamians sought to avoid evil spirits on the seventh, fourteenth, twenty-first, and twenty-eighth days of the (lunar) month; the Torah’s proscriptions of fire and work/movement outdoors on the sabbath are consonant with an original motive to avoid danger. Keep…holy, “hallow” in Gen 2.3 and consecrate in v. 11; by observing the sabbath one does what God does.
20.10 Major textual versions add “on it” after do. Livestock. Deut 5.14 adds here “or your ox or your donkey” and at the end “so that your…slave may rest as well as you” in accordance with the motive there. Alien resident. See Introduction. Towns, lit. “city gates,” a locution characteristic of Deut (e.g., 12.12, 18).
20.11 Therefore. Cf. Gen 2.3; Ex 23.12; Deut 5.15.
20.12 Cf. Lev 19.3; Prov 19.26; 28.24; elsewhere this commandment is formulated as a prohibition (Ex 21.15, 17; Lev 20.9; Deut 27.16; and see Deut 21.18–21); for linking the positive and negative formulations, see Mt 15.4. Honoring parents serves as a metaphor for the covenant between God and Israel (e.g., Deut 32.16–21; Isa 1.2; Mal 1.6). Long, an expression characteristic of Deuteronomy (e.g., 4.40; 22.6–7).
20.13 Murder. Cf. 21.12; Lev 24.17; Num 35.30–34; Deut 19.11–13; see Gen 9.5–6.
20.14 Since men may be polygamous, adultery is intercourse between a married woman and any man but her husband; cf. Lev 18.20; 20.10; Deut 22.22; also cf. Num 5.11–31. For adultery as a metaphor for apostasy, see, e.g., Hos 1–3; Mal 2.13–16. In some versions this commandment precedes v. 13.
20.15 Cf. 22.1–12; Lev 19.11. Steal, possibly referring to kidnapping (21.16; Deut 24.7; cf. Gen 40.15).
20.16 Witnesses not only testify but bring charges (e.g., Deut 19.15–19; 1 Kings 21.13). Cf. Ex 23.1; Num 35.30; Deut 19.16–21; Prov 6.19; 14.5, 25; 19.5, 9.
20.17 Covet, to the point of theft (see 34.24; Deut 7.25; Josh 7.21; Mic 2.2; cf. 2 Sam 11; 1 Kings 21, although the term covet is not employed there). House, household, including the wife, whom Deut 5.21 separates as an individual.
20.18–21 A different perspective from that of 19.16–23; cf. Deut 5.5, 22–27. The passage serves to incorporate the succeeding laws into the Sinai revelation.
20.18 Witnessed. See note on 19.4. The paradoxical “seeing” the thunder lends mystique to the revelation. Lightning, lit. “torches,” not the Hebrew term so translated in 19.16
. Trembled, different from the term used in 19.16, but the same as the term translated “shook” in Isa 7.2.
20.19 And we will listen, rather “so that we may listen/hear.” Or we will die, “lest we die” cf. Deut 4.33; 5.23–26.
20.20 Test. Cf. 16.4; Judg 2.22–23.
20.21 Thick darkness, or “fog” (e.g., Ps 18.10), synonymous with cloud (19.9, 16). References to Moses’ approach to God here and in 24.2, where come near is the same as drew near here, frame the corpus of law that follows.
20.22–23.33 The so-called Book of the Covenant (see 24.7) is generally regarded as the oldest legislation in the Bible, dating perhaps to premonarchical times. Parallels to Mesopotamian law abound, and subsequent biblical texts may be taken to repeat and revise the law found here. Sections of ritual and civil/criminal law alternate. The archaic language has some features in common with ch. 18 (see note on 18.1–27).
20.22–26 The laws of worship elaborate the second commandment (vv. 4–6), adding positive injunctions to the commandment’s prohibitions.
20.22 Seen, a link to the preceding section (see note on 19.4). With you, in tension with 20.18–21 (see note there).
20.23 Silver…gold is an ancient and common word pair in parallelism (see note on 3.15).
20.24 Altar of earth. Such a primitive altar was found at Mari, a northwest Mesopotamian city of the eighteenth century BCE with a West Semitic population; see 2 Kings 5.17; cf. 27.1–8; 1 Kings 8.64. Sacrifice. See note on 3.18. Burnt offerings. See note on 18.12. Well-being, or “goodwill,” for propitiation; cf. Lev 3.1–16; 7.11–18. Every place. Many local altars are implied; cf., e.g., Judg 6.24; 1 Sam 14.35; contrast Deut 12.5–14, which is taken to originate centuries later. On the altar God is remembered (see note on 17.15) or invoked (as in 23.13; see note on 3.15).
20.25 Stone. See Deut 27.5–6; Josh 8.30–31; 1 Kings 18.31–32; 1 Macc 4.47; cf. Judg 13.19; 1 Sam 6.14; 1 Kings 1.9. Early Israelite religion favors the natural; cf. note on 12.8; cf. 27.1–8. Use, in a sweeping motion. Chisel, a cutting tool (or weapon) specified as iron in Deut 27.5; Josh 8.31. Metal tools taint the sanctuary (1 Kings 6.7).
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