As the people stood in the distance, Moses approached the dark cloud where God was.
Parallel translations
- WEB The people stayed at a distance, and Moses came near to the thick darkness where God was.
- KJV And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto 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.
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 Solomon said, “Yahweh has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
- Ps 97:2Clouds and darkness are around him. Righteousness and justice are the foundation of his throne.
- Ps 18:9He bowed the heavens also, and came down. Thick darkness was under his feet.
- 1 Tim 6:16who alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light; whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen.
- 2 Chr 6:1Then Solomon said, “Yahweh has said that he would dwell in the thick darkness.
- Ps 18:12At the brightness before him his thick clouds passed, hailstones and coals of fire.
- Exod 19:16–17On 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.
- Deut 5:5(I stood between Yahweh and you at that time, to show you Yahweh’s word: for you were afraid because of the fire, and didn’t go up onto the mountain;) saying,
- Ps 104:2He covers himself with light as with a garment. He stretches out the heavens like a curtain.
- Deut 5:22Yahweh spoke these words to all your assembly on the mountain out of the middle of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice. He added no more. He wrote them on two stone tablets, and gave them to me.
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 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
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.