Bible Strands
Exodus 19:21
and the LORD said to him, “Go down and warn the people not to break through to see the LORD, lest many of them perish.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The LORD speaks to Moses at the summit of Mount Sinai immediately after descending to its peak and calling him upward. He commands Moses to descend and issue a boundary warning to the assembled crowd.
The words — The imperative רֵד (red) literally means "go down," directing Moses back toward the mountain base. The conjunction פֶּן (pen) carries the literal sense "lest," introducing the fatal consequence of crossing the imposed boundary.
The thread — This boundary warning parallels the holy space restrictions in Exodus 3:5 and the lethal outcome of unauthorized proximity in 1 Samuel 6:19. It establishes the consecration requirement that Hebrews 12:28 later frames as the condition for acceptable worship.
Why it lands — The text requires strict adherence to divine limits before approaching God. It demands that readers recognize proximity to holiness necessitates preparation rather than presumption.
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 down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the Lord to gaze, and many of them perish.
Cross-references
- 1 Samuel 6:19 But God struck down some of the people of Beth-shemesh because they looked inside the ark of the LORD. He struck down seventy men, and the people mourned because the LORD had struck them with a great slaughter.
- Exodus 3:5 “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
- Hebrews 12:28 Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be filled with gratitude, and so worship God acceptably with reverence and awe.
- Exodus 3:3 So Moses thought, “I must go over and see this marvelous sight. Why is the bush not burning up?”
- Exodus 19:12 And you are to set up a boundary for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful not to go up on the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.
- Exodus 33:20 But He added, “You cannot see My face, for no one can see Me and live.”
- Ecclesiastes 5:1 Guard your steps when you go to the house of God. Draw near to listen rather than to offer the sacrifice of fools, who do not know that they do wrong.