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.
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.
- BSB 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.
- 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 19:16And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.
- John 3:13And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.
- Deut 33:2And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.
- Exod 34:5And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
- Num 11:17And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it not thyself alone.
- Ps 144:5Bow thy heavens, O LORD, and come down: touch the mountains, and they shall smoke.
- John 6:38For I came down from heaven, not to do mine own will, but the will of him that sent me.
- Hab 3:3–6God came from Teman, and the Holy One from mount Paran. Selah. His glory covered the heavens, and the earth was full of his praise.
- Exod 3:8And I am come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land unto a good land and a large, unto a land flowing with milk and honey; unto the place of the Canaanites, and the Hittites, and the Amorites, and the Perizzites, and the Hivites, and the Jebusites.
- Isa 64:1–2Oh that thou wouldest rend the heavens, that thou wouldest come down, that the mountains might flow down at thy presence,
- Ps 18:9He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
- Exod 19:18And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the LORD descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
- Exod 19:20And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai, on the top of the mount: and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount; and 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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