The LORD spoke with you face to face out of the fire on the mountain.
Parallel translations
- WEB Yahweh spoke with you face to face on the mountain out of the middle of the fire,
- KJV The LORD talked with you face to face in the mount out of the midst of the fire,
- NKJV The Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire.
- NASB The Lord spoke with you face to face at the mountain from the midst of the fire,
- NLT At the mountain the Lord spoke to you face to face from the heart of the 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
God spoke to Israel face to face from the fire at Sinai. The covenant came by direct, awesome divine encounter.
Overview
Moses emphasizes the immediacy of God's revelation, speaking 'face to face,' meaning directly and personally, from the fire. This stresses both intimacy and the holy awe of meeting God. The fullest face-to-face revelation of God comes in Christ, in whom we behold the glory of God (John 1:14, 2 Corinthians 4:6).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Exod 19:18–19Mount 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.
- Deut 34:10Since that time, no prophet has risen in Israel like Moses, whom the LORD knew face to face—
- Exod 19:9The LORD said to Moses, “Behold, I will come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear when I speak with you, and they will always put their trust in you.” And Moses relayed to the LORD what the people had said.
- Deut 4:36He let you hear His voice from heaven to discipline you, and on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the fire.
- Deut 4:33Has a people ever heard the voice of God speaking out of the fire, as you have, and lived?
- Deut 5:24–26and you said, “Behold, the LORD our God has shown us His glory and greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the fire. Today we have seen that a man can live even if God speaks with him.
- Exod 20:18–22When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sounding of the ram’s horn, and the mountain enveloped in smoke, they trembled and stood at a distance.
- Exod 33:11Thus the LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young assistant Joshua son of Nun would not leave the tent.
- Num 12:8I speak with him face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you unafraid to speak against My servant Moses?”
- Num 14:14And they will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have already heard that You, O LORD, are in the midst of this people, that You, O LORD, have been seen face to face, that Your cloud stands over them, and that You go before them in a pillar of cloud by day and a pillar of fire by night.
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 5:4 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.