(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:
Parallel translations
- WEB for they could not stand that which was commanded, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned”;
- BSB For they could not bear what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.”
- 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 thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about, saying, Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount, or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death:
- Gal 3:10For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse: for it is written, Cursed is every one that continueth not in all things which are written in the book of the law to do them.
- Exod 19:16And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.
- Gal 2:19For I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God.
- Deut 33:2And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them.
- Rom 3:19–20Now we know that what things soever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law: that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.
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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.
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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