For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and to a blazing fire, and to darkness and gloom and whirlwind,
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,
- BSB For you have not come to a mountain that can be touched and that is burning with fire; to darkness, gloom, and storm;
- 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,
- 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 under the mountain. The mountain burned with fire to the heart of the sky, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.
- Exod 24:17The appearance of Yahweh’s glory was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel.
- Deut 5:22–26Yahweh 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.
- Exod 20:18All the people perceived the thunderings, the lightnings, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking. When the people saw it, they trembled, and stayed at a distance.
- Rom 6:14For sin will not have dominion over you. For you are not under law, but under grace.
- 2 Cor 3:9For if the service of condemnation has glory, the service of righteousness exceeds much more in glory.
- Exod 19:12–22You 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.
- 2 Tim 1:7For God didn’t give us a spirit of fear, but of power, love, and self-control.
- Rom 8:15For you didn’t receive the spirit of bondage again to fear, but you received the Spirit of adoption, 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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