Exodus 24:2

24:2 Moses alone may come ¹  near the Lord, but the others ²  must not come near, ³  nor may the people go up with him.”

Exodus 19:24

19:24 The Lord said to him, “Go, get down, and come up, and Aaron with you, but do not let the priests and the people force their way through to come up to the Lord, lest he break through against them.”

Exodus 33:1

33:1 The Lord said to Moses, “Go up ⁴  from here, you and the people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land I promised on oath ⁵  to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ ⁶ 

¹ tn The verb is a perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive; it and the preceding perfect tense follow the imperative, and so have either a force of instruction, or, as taken here, are the equivalent of an imperfect tense (of permission).

² tn Heb “they.”

³ tn Now the imperfect tense negated is used; here the prohibition would fit (“they will not come near”), or the obligatory (“they must not”) in which the subjects are obliged to act – or not act in this case.

⁴ tn The two imperatives underscore the immediacy of the demand: “go, go up,” meaning “get going up” or “be on your way.”

⁵ tn Or “the land which I swore.”

⁶ tn Heb “seed.”