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Exodus 19:21-23
New English Translation
Exodus 19:21-23
New English Translation
21 The Lord said to Moses, “Go down and solemnly warn[a] the people, lest they force their way through to the Lord to look, and many of them perish.[b] 22 Let the priests also, who approach the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break through[c] against them.”
23 Moses said to the Lord, “The people are not able to come up to Mount Sinai, because you solemnly warned us,[d] ‘Set boundaries for the mountain and set it apart.’”[e]
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- Exodus 19:21 tn The imperative הָעֵד (haʿed) means “charge” them—put them under oath, or solemnly warn them. God wished to ensure that the people would not force their way past the barriers that had been set out.
- Exodus 19:21 tn Heb “and fall”; NAB “be struck down.”
- Exodus 19:22 tn The verb יִפְרֹץ (yifrots) is the imperfect tense from פָּרַץ (parats, “to make a breach, to break through”). The image of Yahweh breaking forth on them means “work destruction” (see 2 Sam 6:8; S. R. Driver, Exodus, 174).
- Exodus 19:23 tn The construction is emphatic: “because you—you solemnly warned us.” Moses’ response to God is to ask how they would break through when God had already charged them not to. God knew them better than Moses did.
- Exodus 19:23 tn Heb “sanctify it.”
New English Translation (NET)
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