Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast heard, and live?
Parallel translations
- WEB Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as you have heard, and live?
- BSB Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire, as you have, and lived?
- NKJV Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live?
- NASB Has any people heard the voice of God speaking from the midst of the fire, as you have heard it, and survived?
- NLT Has any nation ever heard the voice of God speaking from fire—as you did—and survived?
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
No other people has heard God's voice from the fire and survived. Israel's experience at Sinai was unique and awesome.
Overview
Moses points to the unprecedented reality that a whole nation heard the living God speak and yet lived. This highlights both God's holiness and his condescending grace in revealing himself. That sinners can hear God and live anticipates the fuller revelation in Christ, the Word made flesh, in whom God speaks finally and savingly (Hebrews 1:1-2).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Deut 5:24And ye said, Behold, the LORD our God hath shewed us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: we have seen this day that God doth talk with man, and he liveth.
- Judg 6:22And when Gideon perceived that he was an angel of the LORD, Gideon said, Alas, O LORD God! for because I have seen an angel of the LORD face to face.
- Exod 33:20And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.
- Deut 5:26For who is there of all flesh, that hath heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?
- Exod 24:11And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.
- Exod 20:18–19And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.
- Deut 4:24–26For the LORD thy God is a consuming fire, even a jealous God.
- Deut 9:10And the LORD delivered unto me two tables of stone written with the finger of God; and on them was written according to all the words, which the LORD spake with you in the mount out of the midst of the fire in the day of the assembly.
- Exod 19:18–19And 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.
- Exod 20:22And the LORD said unto Moses, Thus thou shalt say unto the children of Israel, Ye have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
Resources, by level
Commentaries & study tools
Free animated overview and word-study videos for this book.
Sermons and teaching on this passage from across YouTube.
Clear, readable, conservative exposition — the best free place to start on any passage.
Matthew Henry, Barnes, Gill, the Pulpit Commentary, Ellicott, Cambridge, and more — stacked on one page for this exact verse.
The beloved Puritan exposition of this whole book — warm, devotional, and verse by verse (free, CCEL).
Hebrew/Greek interlinear, word definitions, and cross-references for this verse.
Christ at the center
Moses promised a Prophet like himself to whom Israel must listen (18:15); Jesus is that Prophet, the one who keeps the covenant we broke and becomes the curse for us by hanging on a tree (Gal 3:13).
How Deuteronomy 4:33 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.