For they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”
Parallel translations
- WEB for they could not stand that which was commanded, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned”;
- KJV (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
- NKJV (For they could not endure what was commanded: “And if so much as a beast touches the mountain, it shall be stoned or shot with an arrow.”
- NASB For they could not cope with the command, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned.”
- NLT They staggered back under God’s command: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death.”
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
The people could not bear the command that even an animal touching the mountain must be stoned. The holiness of God under the law demanded fearful separation.
Overview
Citing Exodus 19:12–13, the author recalls how the boundary around Sinai was so strict that even a beast straying onto it had to be killed. The severity expressed God's unapproachable holiness and the people's exclusion from his presence. Such was the weight of the old covenant, from which the new covenant's nearness is a glorious deliverance.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 6
- Exod 19:12–13And 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.
- Gal 3:10All who rely on works of the law are under a curse. For it is written: “Cursed is everyone who does not continue to do everything written in the Book of the Law.”
- Exod 19:16On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning. A thick cloud was upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the ram’s horn went out, so that all the people in the camp trembled.
- Gal 2:19For through the law I died to the law so that I might live to God.
- Deut 33:2He said: “The LORD came from Sinai and dawned upon us from Seir; He shone forth from Mount Paran and came with myriads of holy ones, with flaming fire at His right hand.
- Rom 3:19–20Now we know that whatever the law says, it says to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be silenced and the whole world held accountable to God.
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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 12:20 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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