For they heard an awesome trumpet blast and a voice so terrible that they begged God to stop speaking.
Parallel translations
- WEB the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which those who heard it begged that not one more word should be spoken to them,
- KJV And the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words; which voice they that heard intreated that the word should not be spoken to them any more:
- BSB to a trumpet blast or to a voice that made its hearers beg that no further word be spoken.
- NKJV and the sound of a trumpet and the voice of words, so that those who heard it begged that the word should not be spoken to them anymore.
- NASB and to the blast of a trumpet and the sound of words, which sound was such that those who heard begged that no further word be spoken to them.
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
At Sinai there was a trumpet blast and a voice so terrifying that the people begged to hear no more. The old covenant inspired dread that drove people back from God.
Overview
Continuing the Sinai scene (Exodus 20:18–19), the author recalls the trumpet and the divine voice that so frightened Israel they pleaded for the speaking to stop. The terror of that encounter underscored the people's distance from a holy God under the law. This dreadful approach stands in deliberate contrast to the welcome believers have under Christ.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Deut 18:16This is according to all that you desired of Yahweh your God in Horeb in the day of the assembly, saying, “Let me not hear again Yahweh my God’s voice, neither let me see this great fire any more, that I not die.”
- 1 Cor 15:52in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the last trumpet. For the trumpet will sound, and the dead will be raised incorruptible, and we will be changed.
- Exod 20:1–19God spoke all these words, saying,
- Deut 4:12Yahweh spoke to you out of the middle of the fire: you heard the voice of words, but you saw no form; you only heard a voice.
- Deut 5:3–22Yahweh didn’t make this covenant with our fathers, but with us, even us, who are all of us here alive today.
- Exod 20:22Yahweh said to Moses, “This is what you shall tell the children of Israel: ‘You yourselves have seen that I have talked with you from heaven.
- Deut 4:33Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as you have heard, and live?
- 1 Th 4:16For the Lord himself will descend from heaven with a shout, with the voice of the archangel, and with God’s trumpet. The dead in Christ will rise first,
- Exod 19:16–19On the third day, when it was morning, there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of an exceedingly loud trumpet; and all the people who were in the camp trembled.
- Deut 5:24–27and you said, “Behold, Yahweh our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the middle of the fire. We have seen today that God does speak with man, and he lives.
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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.
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