Exodus 3:5

God ¹  said, “Do not approach any closer! ²  Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ³  ground.” ⁴ 

biblegateway Exo 3:5

"Do not come any closer," God said. "Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground."

biblegateway Exo 3:5

Then He said, "Do not come near here; remove your sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."

biblegateway Exo 3:5

"Do not come any closer," God told him. "Take off your sandals, for you are standing on holy ground."

biblegateway Exo 3:5

God said, "Don't come any closer. Remove your sandals from your feet. You're standing on holy ground."

SABDAweb Exo 3:5

And he said, Do not come near: take off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you are is holy.

bibleoremus Exo 3:5

Then he said, "Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground."

biblegateway Exo 3:5

Then He said, "Do not draw near this place. Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you stand is holy ground."

biblegateway Exo 3:5

God ¹  said, “Do not approach any closer! ²  Take your sandals off your feet, for the place where you are standing is holy ³  ground.” ⁴ 

¹ tn Heb “And he”; the referent (God) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

² sn Even though the Lord was drawing near to Moses, Moses could not casually approach him. There still was a barrier between God and human, and God had to remind Moses of this with instructions. The removal of sandals was, and still is in the East, a sign of humility and reverence in the presence of the Holy One. It was a way of excluding the dust and dirt of the world. But it also took away personal comfort and convenience and brought the person more closely in contact with the earth.

³ sn The word קֹדֶשׁ (qodesh, “holy”) indicates “set apart, distinct, unique.” What made a mountain or other place holy was the fact that God chose that place to reveal himself or to reside among his people. Because God was in this place, the ground was different – it was holy.

⁴ tn The causal clause includes within it a typical relative clause, which is made up of the relative pronoun, then the independent personal pronoun with the participle, and then the preposition with the resumptive pronoun. It would literally be “which you are standing on it,” but the relative pronoun and the resumptive pronoun are combined and rendered, “on which you are standing.”