Bible Strands
Exodus 19:18
Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because the LORD had descended on it in fire. And the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses brings the Israelites to the foot of Mount Sinai as the covenant ceremony begins. The narrative records the physical manifestation occurring at the precise moment the people stand ready to meet God.
The words — The phrase עָשָׁן כֻּלּוֹ (ashan kullo) translates literally to "all of it was smoking," denoting total coverage. The verb יָרַד (yarat) signifies that the LORD "had come down" upon the peak in fire.
The thread — Mountains quaking before the LORD of Sinai reappears in Judges 5:5, while divine descent causing peaks to smoke surfaces in Psalm 144:5. The fire motif directly recalls the burning bush encounter in Exodus 3:2.
Why it lands — The text requires the reader to acknowledge that divine presence operates with overwhelming physical force that disrupts natural order. It establishes that approaching God demands recognition of a reality that cannot be managed or minimized.
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 mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
Cross-references
- Judges 5:5 The mountains quaked before the LORD, the One of Sinai, before the LORD, the God of Israel.
- Exodus 3:2 There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed.
- Psalms 144:5 Part Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, that they may smoke.
- Revelation 15:8 And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
- Genesis 19:28 He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.
- Psalms 68:7 O God, when You went out before Your people, when You marched through the wasteland, Selah
- Jeremiah 4:24 I looked at the mountains, and behold, they were quaking; all the hills were swaying.
- Exodus 24:17 And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop in the eyes of the Israelites.
- Deuteronomy 33:2 He said: “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned upon us from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran and came with myriads of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand.
- Psalms 104:32 He looks on the earth, and it trembles; He touches the mountains, and they smolder.