The Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire.
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,
- BSB The LORD spoke with you face to face out of the fire on the mountain.
- 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 19:18–19All 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.
- Deut 34:10Since then, there has not arisen a prophet in Israel like Moses, whom Yahweh knew face to face,
- Exod 19:9Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I come to you in a thick cloud, that the people may hear when I speak with you, and may also believe you forever.” Moses told the words of the people to Yahweh.
- Deut 4:36Out of heaven he made you to hear his voice, that he might instruct you. On earth he made you to see his great fire; and you heard his words out of the middle of the fire.
- Deut 4:33Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as you have heard, and live?
- Deut 5:24–26and 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.
- Exod 20:18–22All 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.
- Exod 33:11Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. He turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, didn’t depart from the Tent.
- Num 12:8With him, I will speak mouth to mouth, even plainly, and not in riddles; and he shall see Yahweh’s form. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?”
- Num 14:14They will tell it to the inhabitants of this land. They have heard that you Yahweh are in the middle of this people; for you Yahweh are seen face to face, and your cloud stands over them, and you go before them, in a pillar of cloud by day, and in a pillar of fire by night.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Commentaries & study tools
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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.