Then He said, “Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”
Parallel translations
- WEB He said, “Don’t come close. Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place you are standing on is holy ground.”
- KJV And he said, Draw not nigh hither: put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the place whereon thou standest is holy ground.
- BSB “Do not come any closer,” God said. “Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.”
- NKJV Then He said, “Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.”
- NLT “Do not come any closer,” the Lord warned. “Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground.
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
God tells Moses to remove his sandals, for he stands on holy ground. God's presence makes the place sacred and demands reverence.
Overview
Removing sandals was a gesture of humility and respect, acknowledging that the ground is holy only because God is there. The command teaches that sinful people cannot approach the holy God casually. It anticipates the whole sacrificial and priestly system, and ultimately Christ, through whom alone we may draw near to a holy God.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 8
- Josh 5:15The prince of Yahweh’s army said to Joshua, “Take your shoes off of your feet; for the place on which you stand is holy.” Joshua did so.
- Acts 7:33The Lord said to him, ‘Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground.
- Exod 19:12You shall set bounds to the people all around, saying, ‘Be careful that you don’t go up onto the mountain, or touch its border. Whoever touches the mountain shall be surely put to death.
- Eccl 5:1Guard your steps when you go to God’s house; for to draw near to listen is better than to give the sacrifice of fools, for they don’t know that they do evil.
- Gen 28:16–17Jacob awakened out of his sleep, and he said, “Surely Yahweh is in this place, and I didn’t know it.”
- Heb 12:20for they could not stand that which was commanded, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned”;
- Exod 19:21Yahweh said to Moses, “Go down, warn the people, lest they break through to Yahweh to gaze, and many of them perish.
- Lev 10:3Then Moses said to Aaron, “This is what Yahweh spoke of, saying, ‘I will show myself holy to those who come near me, and before all the people I will be glorified.’” Aaron held his peace.
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 3:5 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.