19:9 The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come 1 to you in a dense cloud, 2 so that the people may hear when I speak with you and so that they will always believe in you.” 3 And Moses told the words of the people to the Lord.
19:16 On 4 the third day in the morning there was thunder and lightning and a dense 5 cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a very loud 6 horn; 7 all the people who were in the camp trembled.
20:18 All the people were seeing 8 the thundering and the lightning, and heard 9 the sound of the horn, and saw 10 the mountain smoking – and when 11 the people saw it they trembled with fear 12 and kept their distance. 13
12:25 Take care not to refuse the one who is speaking! For if they did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, how much less shall we, if we reject the one who warns from heaven?
1 tn The construction uses the deictic particle and the participle to express the imminent future, what God was about to do. Here is the first announcement of the theophany.
2 tn Heb “the thickness of the cloud”; KJV, ASV, NASB, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT “in a thick cloud.”
3 tn Since “and also in you” begins the clause, the emphasis must be that the people would also trust Moses. See Exod 4:1-9, 31; 14:31.
4 tn Heb “and it was on.”
5 tn Heb “heavy” (כָּבֵד, kaved).
6 tn Literally “strong” (חָזָק, khazaq).
7 tn The word here is שֹׁפָר (shofar), the normal word for “horn.” This word is used especially to announce something important in a public event (see 1 Kgs 1:34; 2 Sam 6:15). The previous word used in the context (v. 16) was יֹבֵל (yovel, “ram’s horn”).
8 tn The participle is used here for durative action in the past time (GKC 359 §116.o).
9 tn The verb “to see” (רָאָה, ra’ah) refers to seeing with all the senses, or perceiving. W. C. Kaiser suggests that this is an example of the figure of speech called zeugma because the verb “saw” yokes together two objects, one that suits the verb and the other that does not. So, the verb “heard” is inserted here to clarify (“Exodus,” EBC 2:427).
10 tn The verb “saw” is supplied here because it is expected in English (see the previous note on “heard”).
11 tn The preterite with vav (ו) consecutive is here subordinated as a temporal clause to the following clause, which receives the prominence.
12 tn The meaning of נוּעַ (nua’) is “to shake, sway to and fro” in fear. Compare Isa 7:2 – “and his heart shook…as the trees of the forest shake with the wind.”
13 tn Heb “and they stood from/at a distance.”
14 tn This describes the nation of Israel approaching God on Mt. Sinai (Exod 19). There is a clear contrast with the reference to Mount Zion in v. 22, so this could be translated “a mountain that can be touched.” But the word “mountain” does not occur here and the more vague description seems to be deliberate.
15 tn Grk “a voice of words.”
16 tn Grk “a voice…from which those who heard begged that a word not be added to them.”