For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom, and storm;
Parallel translations
- WEB For you have not come to a mountain that might be touched, and that burned with fire, and to blackness, darkness, storm,
- KJV For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
- NKJV For you have not come to the mountain that may be touched and that burned with fire, and to blackness and darkness and tempest,
- NASB For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind,
- NLT You have not come to a physical mountain, to a place of flaming fire, darkness, gloom, and whirlwind, as the Israelites did at Mount Sinai.
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
You have not come to a physical mountain blazing with fire, darkness, and storm. The new covenant does not approach God in the terrifying way Israel did at Sinai.
Overview
The author contrasts the readers' situation with Israel at Mount Sinai (Exodus 19), a tangible mountain marked by fire, darkness, and tempest that signified terror and distance from God. This sets up the great comparison between the old covenant given in dread and the new covenant of access and joy. Believers no longer approach God amid such fearful barriers.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 9
- Deut 4:11You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire to the heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.
- Exod 24:17And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop in the eyes of the Israelites.
- Deut 5:22–26The LORD spoke these commandments in a loud voice to your whole assembly out of the fire, the cloud, and the deep darkness on the mountain; He added nothing more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.
- Exod 20:18When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sounding of the ram’s horn, and the mountain enveloped in smoke, they trembled and stood at a distance.
- Rom 6:14For sin shall not be your master, because you are not under law, but under grace.
- 2 Cor 3:9For if the ministry of condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry of righteousness!
- Exod 19:12–22And you are to set up a boundary for the people around the mountain and tell them, ‘Be careful not to go up on the mountain or touch its base. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.
- 2 Tim 1:7For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.
- Rom 8:15For you did not receive a spirit of slavery that returns you to fear, but you received the Spirit of sonship, by whom we cry, “Abba! Father!”
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Christ at the center
Hebrews is sustained worship of Christ: better than angels, Moses, and the priests; the great High Priest after Melchizedek who by one sacrifice perfects forever those he saves.
How Hebrews 12:18 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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