And Moses alone shall come near the Lord, but they shall not come near; nor shall the people go up with him.”
Parallel translations
- WEB Moses alone shall come near to Yahweh, but they shall not come near. The people shall not go up with him.”
- KJV And Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him.
- BSB Moses alone shall approach the LORD, but the others must not come near. And the people may not go up with him.”
- NASB Moses alone, however, shall approach the Lord, but they shall not approach, nor shall the people come up with him.”
- NLT Only Moses is allowed to come near to the Lord. The others must not come near, and none of the other people are allowed to climb up the mountain with him.”
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
Only Moses could come near to the LORD; the elders and people had to keep their distance. Access to God was carefully restricted, highlighting His holiness.
Overview
Moses alone ascends as covenant mediator, while the leaders worship farther off and the people remain below. These gradations of access dramatize that a holy God cannot be approached casually by sinners. Moses foreshadows the unique role of a mediator between God and people. This anticipates Christ, the one Mediator through whom all believers may now draw near with confidence.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Exod 24:18Moses entered into the middle of the cloud, and went up on the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
- Exod 24:13Moses rose up with Joshua, his servant, and Moses went up onto God’s Mountain.
- Exod 24:15Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.
- Heb 10:21–22and having a great priest over God’s house,
- Jer 49:19“Behold, he will come up like a lion from the pride of the Jordan against the strong habitation: for I will suddenly make them run away from it; and whoever is chosen, I will appoint him over it. For who is like me? Who will appoint me a time? Who is the shepherd who will stand before me?”
- Heb 9:24For Christ hasn’t entered into holy places made with hands, which are representations of the true, but into heaven itself, now to appear in the presence of God for us;
- Jer 30:21Their prince shall be of themselves, and their ruler shall proceed from among them. I will cause him to draw near, and he shall approach to me; for who is he who has had boldness to approach to me?” says Yahweh.
- Num 16:5He said to Korah and to all his company, “In the morning, Yahweh will show who are his, and who is holy, and will cause him to come near to him. Even him whom he shall choose, he will cause to come near to him.
- Exod 20:21The people stayed at a distance, and Moses came near to the thick darkness where God was.
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 24:2 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.