Has any nation ever heard the voice of God speaking from fire—as you did—and survived?
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?
- KJV Did ever people hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as thou hast 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?
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 you said, “Behold, Yahweh our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the middle of the fire. We have seen today that God does speak with man, and he lives.
- Judg 6:22Gideon saw that he was Yahweh’s angel; and Gideon said, “Alas, Lord Yahweh! Because I have seen Yahweh’s angel face to face!”
- Exod 33:20He said, “You cannot see my face, for man may not see me and live.”
- Deut 5:26For who is there of all flesh, that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as we have, and lived?
- Exod 24:11He didn’t lay his hand on the nobles of the children of Israel. They saw God, and ate and drank.
- Exod 20:18–19All the people perceived the thunderings, the lightnings, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled, and stayed at a distance.
- Deut 4:24–26For Yahweh your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.
- Deut 9:10Yahweh delivered to me the two stone tablets written with God’s finger. On them were all the words which Yahweh spoke with you on the mountain out of the middle of the fire in the day of the assembly.
- Exod 19:18–19All of Mount Sinai smoked, because Yahweh descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.
- Exod 20:22Yahweh said to Moses, “This is what you shall tell the children of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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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.