Genesis 28:17

28:17 He was afraid and said, “What an awesome place this is! This is nothing else than the house of God! This is the gate of heaven!”

Exodus 3:5

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 

Exodus 3:1

3:1 Now Moses ⁵  was shepherding the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the far side of the desert ⁶  and came to the mountain of God, to Horeb. ⁷ 

Exodus 29:3

29:3 You are to put them in one basket and present ⁸  them in the basket, along with ⁹  the bull and the two rams.

Psalms 93:5

93:5 The rules you set down ¹⁰  are completely reliable. ¹¹ 

Holiness ¹²  aptly adorns your house, O Lord, forever. ¹³ 

Psalms 99:9

99:9 Praise ¹⁴  the Lord our God!

Worship on his holy hill,

for the Lord our God is holy!

Isaiah 64:11

64:11 Our holy temple, our pride and joy, ¹⁵ 

the place where our ancestors praised you,

has been burned with fire;

all our prized possessions have been destroyed. ¹⁶ 

Ezekiel 43:12

43:12 “This is the law of the temple: The entire area on top of the mountain all around will be most holy. Indeed, this is the law of the temple.

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.”

⁵ sn The vav (ו) disjunctive with the name “Moses” introduces a new and important starting point. The Lord’s dealing with Moses will fill the next two chapters.

⁶ tn Or “west of the desert,” taking אַחַר (’akhar, “behind”) as the opposite of עַל־פְּנֵי (’al-pÿne, “on the face of, east of”; cf. Gen 16:12; 25:18).

⁷ sn “Horeb” is another name for Mount Sinai. There is a good deal of foreshadowing in this verse, for later Moses would shepherd the people of Israel and lead them to Mount Sinai to receive the Law. See D. Skinner, “Some Major Themes of Exodus,” Mid-America Theological Journal 1 (1977): 31-42.

⁸ tn The verb קָרַב (qarav) in the Hiphil means to “bring near” to the altar, or, to offer something to God. These gifts will, therefore, be offered to him for the service of this ritual.

⁹ tn Heb “and with.”

¹⁰ tn Traditionally “your testimonies.” The Hebrew noun עֵדוּת (’edut) refers here to the demands of God’s covenant law. See Ps 19:7.

¹¹ sn The rules you set down. God’s covenant contains a clear, reliable witness to his moral character and demands.

¹² sn Holiness refers here to God’s royal transcendence (see vv. 1-4), as well as his moral authority and perfection (see v. 5a).

¹³ tn Heb “for your house holiness is fitting, O Lord, for length of days.”

¹⁴ tn Or “exalt.”

¹⁵ tn Heb “our source of pride.”

¹⁶ tn Or “all that we valued has become a ruin.”