and be prepared by the third day, for on the third day the LORD will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
Parallel translations
- WEB and be ready against the third day; for on the third day Yahweh will come down in the sight of all the people on Mount Sinai.
- KJV And be ready against the third day: for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai.
- NKJV And let them be ready for the third day. For on the third day the Lord will come down upon Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
- NASB and have them ready for the third day, for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.
- NLT Be sure they are ready on the third day, for on that day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai as all the people watch.
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
They were to be ready on the third day, when Yahweh would descend on Sinai before all the people. God appoints a set time to reveal His glory.
Overview
The people are to prepare for the awesome moment when God Himself will come down in sight of the nation. The deliberate timetable heightens anticipation of this holy meeting. God's coming down to dwell with His people finds its climax when the Word becomes flesh and dwells among us (John 1:14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Exod 19:16On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning. A thick cloud was upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the ram’s horn went out, so that all the people in the camp trembled.
- John 3:13No one has ascended into heaven except the One who descended from heaven—the Son of Man.
- Deut 33:2He said: “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned upon us from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran and came with myriads of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand.
- Exod 34:5And the LORD descended in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed His name, the LORD.
- Num 11:17And I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put that Spirit on them. They will help you bear the burden of the people, so that you do not have to bear it by yourself.
- Ps 144:5Part Your heavens, O LORD, and come down; touch the mountains, that they may smoke.
- John 6:38For I have come down from heaven, not to do My own will, but to do the will of Him who sent Me.
- Hab 3:3–6God came from Teman, and the Holy One from Mount Paran. Selah His glory covered the heavens, and His praise filled the earth.
- Exod 3:8I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
- Isa 64:1–2If only You would rend the heavens and come down, so that mountains would quake at Your presence,
- Ps 18:9He parted the heavens and came down with dark clouds beneath His feet.
- Exod 19:18Mount 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.
- Exod 19:20The LORD descended to the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the summit. So Moses went up,
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 19:11 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
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