Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, then we shall die.
Parallel translations
- WEB Now therefore why should we die? For this great fire will consume us. If we hear Yahweh our God’s voice any more, then we shall die.
- KJV Now therefore why should we die? for this great fire will consume us: if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any more, then we shall die.
- BSB But now, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us, and we will die, if we hear the voice of the LORD our God any longer.
- NASB Now then, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, then we will die!
- NLT But now, why should we risk death again? If the Lord our God speaks to us again, we will certainly die and be consumed by this awesome fire.
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
The people feared they would die if they kept hearing God's voice from the fire. They felt the deadly danger of God's holiness to sinners.
Overview
Israel pleads that continued direct exposure to God's voice will consume them. Their fear rightly senses the peril of unmediated nearness to a holy God for sinful people. This dread points to the necessity of a mediator who can stand in the gap, perfectly provided in Jesus Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Deut 18:16This is according to all that you desired of Yahweh your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me not hear again Yahweh my God’s voice, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I not die.”
- Gal 3:21–22Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could make alive, most certainly righteousness would have been of the law.
- Heb 12:29for our God is a consuming fire.
- Gal 3:10For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
- Deut 33:2He said, “Yahweh came from Sinai, and rose from Seir to them. He shone from Mount Paran. He came from the ten thousands of holy ones. At his right hand was a fiery law for them.
- 2 Cor 3:7–9But if the service of death, written engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the glory of his face; which was passing away:
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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 5:25 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.