And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.
Parallel translations
- WEB The people stayed at a distance, and Moses came near to the thick darkness where God was.
- BSB And the people stood at a distance as Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.
- NKJV So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near the thick darkness where God was.
- NASB So the people stood at a distance, while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was.
- NLT As the people stood in the distance, Moses approached the dark cloud where God was.
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
The people stood far off while Moses approached the thick darkness where God was. The mediator draws near to God on the people's behalf.
Overview
As the people keep their distance, Moses alone enters the dark cloud of God's presence. His unique nearness underscores his mediatorial role. This points to Christ, who enters the very presence of God for us and, unlike the people at Sinai, brings His own near rather than leaving them at a distance (Heb. 9:24).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- 1 Kgs 8:12Then spake Solomon, The LORD said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
- Ps 97:2Clouds and darkness are round about him: righteousness and judgment are the habitation of his throne.
- Ps 18:9He bowed the heavens also, and came down: and darkness was under his feet.
- 1 Tim 6:16Who only hath immortality, dwelling in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen.
- 2 Chr 6:1Then said Solomon, The LORD hath said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
- Ps 18:12At the brightness that was before him his thick clouds passed, hail stones and coals of fire.
- Exod 19:16–17And 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.
- Deut 5:5(I stood between the LORD and you at that time, to shew you the word of the LORD: for ye were afraid by reason of the fire, and went not up into the mount;) saying,
- Ps 104:2Who coverest thyself with light as with a garment: who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain:
- Deut 5:22These words the LORD spake unto all your assembly in the mount out of the midst of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice: and he added no more. And he wrote them in two tables of stone, and delivered them unto me.
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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 20:21 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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