He said to the people, “Be ready by the third day. Don’t have sexual relations with a woman.”
Parallel translations
- KJV And he said unto the people, Be ready against the third day: come not at your wives.
- BSB “Be prepared for the third day,” he said to the people. “Do not draw near to a woman.”
- NKJV And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not come near your wives.”
- NASB He also said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; do not go near a woman.”
- NLT He told them, “Get ready for the third day, and until then abstain from having sexual intercourse.”
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
Moses charged the people to be ready and to abstain from sexual relations. Even legitimate activities were set aside in focused preparation for God.
Overview
Temporary abstinence marked the people's undivided readiness for God's appearing, not because marriage is impure but to underscore the solemnity of the moment. Such consecration reflects the call to single-minded devotion when drawing near to God, a devotion perfected in those wholly set apart to Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 13
- Exod 19:11and 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.
- 1 Sam 21:4–5The priest answered David, and said, “I have no common bread, but there is holy bread; if only the young men have kept themselves from women.”
- 1 Cor 7:5Don’t deprive one another, unless it is by consent for a season, that you may give yourselves to fasting and prayer, and may be together again, that Satan doesn’t tempt you because of your lack of self-control.
- Joel 2:16Gather the people. Sanctify the assembly. Assemble the elders. Gather the children, and those who nurse from breasts. Let the bridegroom go out of his room, and the bride out of her room.
- Exod 19:16On the third day, when it was morning, there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of an exceedingly loud trumpet; and all the people who were in the camp trembled.
- Zech 7:3and to speak to the priests of the house of Yahweh of Armies, and to the prophets, saying, “Should I weep in the fifth month, separating myself, as I have done these so many years?”
- Zech 6:3in the third chariot white horses; and in the fourth chariot dappled horses, all of them powerful.
- Mal 3:2“But who can endure the day of his coming? And who will stand when he appears? For he is like a refiner’s fire, and like launderer’s soap;
- Amos 4:12“Therefore thus will I do to you, Israel; because I will do this to you, prepare to meet your God, Israel.
- Matt 3:10–12“Even now the ax lies at the root of the trees. Therefore every tree that doesn’t produce good fruit is cut down, and cast into the fire.
- 2 Pet 3:11–12Therefore since all these things will be destroyed like this, what kind of people ought you to be in holy living and godliness,
- Matt 24:44Therefore also be ready, for in an hour that you don’t expect, the Son of Man will come.
- Zech 12:12–14The land will mourn, every family apart; the family of David’s house apart, and their wives apart; the family of the house of Nathan apart, and their wives apart;
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 19:15 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.