Bible Strands
Exodus 19:10
Then the LORD said to Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Yahweh addresses Moses directly, instructing him to prepare the people for God's descent on Mount Sinai. This follows the people's oath to obey (v.5) and Yahweh's announcement that He will come in a dense cloud (v.9).
The words — קִדַּשְׁתָּם (qiḏashtām), "you will consecrate them," from the root q-d-sh (H6942), carrying the sense of setting apart or making holy. The same root governs priestly and tabernacle consecration throughout Leviticus.
The thread — The pattern of cleansing before divine encounter recurs in Genesis 35:2 (Jacob's household purifying before God appears) and Leviticus 11:44 (consecrate yourselves because I am holy). Hebrews 10:22 reframes the same logic: hearts sprinkled clean before drawing near.
Why it lands — The command is concrete and non-negotiable: wash, set apart, wait. It treats holiness as an act of preparation, not a feeling, and places the burden of readiness on the people rather than on God.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And the Lord said unto Moses, Go unto the people, and sanctify them to day and to morrow, and let them wash their clothes,
Cross-references
- Hebrews 10:22 let us draw near with a sincere heart in full assurance of faith, having our hearts sprinkled to cleanse us from a guilty conscience and our bodies washed with pure water.
- Genesis 35:2 So Jacob told his household and all who were with him, “Get rid of the foreign gods that are among you. Purify yourselves and change your garments.
- Leviticus 11:44 For I am the LORD your God; consecrate yourselves, therefore, and be holy, because I am holy. You must not defile yourselves by any creature that crawls along the ground.
- Leviticus 11:25 and whoever picks up one of their carcasses must wash his clothes, and he will be unclean until evening.
- Leviticus 15:5 Anyone who touches his bed must wash his clothes and bathe with water, and he will be unclean until evening.
- Numbers 8:21 The Levites purified themselves and washed their clothes, and Aaron presented them as a wave offering before the LORD. Aaron also made atonement for them to cleanse them.
- 1 Corinthians 6:11 And that is what some of you were. But you were washed, you were sanctified, you were justified, in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ and by the Spirit of our God.
- Numbers 8:7 This is what you must do to cleanse them: Sprinkle them with the water of purification. Have them shave their whole bodies and wash their clothes, and so purify themselves.
- Joshua 3:5 Then Joshua told the people, “Consecrate yourselves, for tomorrow the LORD will do wonders among you.”
- Joshua 7:13 Get up and consecrate the people, saying, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, for this is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says: Among you, O Israel, there are things devoted to destruction. You cannot stand against your enemies until you remove them.