The appearance of Yahweh’s glory was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel.
Parallel translations
- KJV And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.
- BSB And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop in the eyes of the Israelites.
- NKJV The sight of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel.
- NASB And to the eyes of the sons of Israel, the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the mountain top.
- NLT To the Israelites at the foot of the mountain, the glory of the Lord appeared at the summit like a consuming fire.
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
To the watching Israelites, God's glory looked like a devouring fire on the mountaintop. God's presence is majestic, holy, and not to be treated lightly.
Overview
The 'devouring fire' imagery conveys God's holiness and the danger of approaching Him carelessly. The whole nation witnessed this awesome sight, reinforcing reverence and the seriousness of the covenant. Fire often signifies both God's purity and His judgment against sin. Scripture later calls God a consuming fire, urging worship with reverence and awe, fitting for those who draw near through Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Heb 12:29for our God is a consuming fire.
- Deut 4:24For Yahweh your God is a devouring fire, a jealous God.
- Deut 4:36Out of heaven he made you to hear his voice, that he might instruct you. On earth he made you to see his great fire; and you heard his words out of the middle of the fire.
- Exod 3:2Yahweh’s angel appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the middle of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.
- Heb 12:18For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm,
- Exod 19:18All of Mount Sinai smoked, because Yahweh descended on it in fire; and its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.
- Hab 3:4–5His splendor is like the sunrise. Rays shine from his hand, where his power is hidden.
- Ezek 1:27I saw as it were glowing metal, as the appearance of fire within it all around, from the appearance of his waist and upward; and from the appearance of his waist and downward I saw as it were the appearance of fire, and there was brightness around him.
- Nah 1:6Who can stand before his indignation? Who can endure the fierceness of his anger? His wrath is poured out like fire, and the rocks are broken apart by him.
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 24:17 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.