Back to Exodus 19

Exodus 19:1-6

In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that same day they came into the wilderness of Sinai. When they had departed from Rephidim, and had come to the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mountain. Moses went up to God, and Yahweh called to him out of the mountain, saying, “This is what you shall tell the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to myself. Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine; and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

World English Bible · Public Domain

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Parallel Translations

  • WEB World English Bible

    In the third month after the children of Israel had gone out of the land of Egypt, on that same day they came into the wilderness of Sinai.

    When they had departed from Rephidim, and had come to the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mountain.

    Moses went up to God, and Yahweh called to him out of the mountain, saying, “This is what you shall tell the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel:

    ‘You have seen what I did to the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles’ wings, and brought you to myself.

    Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine;

    and you shall be to me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation.’ These are the words which you shall speak to the children of Israel.”

  • KJV King James Version

    In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.

    For they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the desert of Sinai, and had pitched in the wilderness; and there Israel camped before the mount.

    And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying, Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel;

    Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bare you on eagles’ wings, and brought you unto myself.

    Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people: for all the earth is mine:

    And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.

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  • JPS JPS Tanakh (1917)

    In the third month after the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai.

    And when they were departed from Rephidim, and were come to the wilderness of Sinai, they encamped in the wilderness; and there Israel encamped before the mount.

    And Moses went up unto God, and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain, saying: 'Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel:

    Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians, and how I bore you on eagles' wings, and brought you unto Myself.

    Now therefore, if ye will hearken unto My voice indeed, and keep My covenant, then ye shall be Mine own treasure from among all peoples; for all the earth is Mine;

    and ye shall be unto Me a kingdom of priests, and a holy nation. These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel.'

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Examined in Scripture Analysis

Contradictions (1)

Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.

  • Who owns the earth?

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Cross-references (86)

  • Deuteronomy 14:2 (v5) For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God, and Yahweh has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who are on…
  • Deuteronomy 7:6 (vv5–6) For you are a holy people to Yahweh your God. Yahweh your God has chosen you to be a people for his own possession, above all peoples who…
  • Deuteronomy 26:18 (v5) Yahweh has declared today that you are a people for his own possession, as he has promised you, and that you should keep all his…
  • Revelation 5:10 (v6) and made us kings and priests to our God, and we will reign on the earth.”
  • 1 Peter 2:9 (v6) But you are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God’s own possession, that you may proclaim the excellence of…
Show all 83 cross-references
  • Malachi 3:17 (v5) They shall be mine,” says Yahweh of Armies, “my own possession in the day that I make, and I will spare them, as a man spares his own son…
  • Exodus 15:26 (v5) He said, “If you will diligently listen to Yahweh your God’s voice, and will do that which is right in his eyes, and will pay attention to…
  • Deuteronomy 32:11-12 (v4) As an eagle that stirs up her nest, that flutters over her young, he spread abroad his wings, he took them, he bore them on his feathers.…
  • Isaiah 63:9 (v4) In all their affliction he was afflicted, and the angel of his presence saved them. In his love and in his pity he redeemed them. He bore…
  • 1 Peter 2:5 (v6) You also, as living stones, are built up as a spiritual house, to be a holy priesthood, to offer up spiritual sacrifices, acceptable to God…
  • Isaiah 40:31 (v4) but those who wait for Yahweh will renew their strength. They will mount up with wings like eagles. They will run, and not be weary. They…
  • Deuteronomy 10:14 (v5) Behold, to Yahweh your God belongs heaven, the heaven of heavens, and the earth, with all that is therein.
  • Psalms 135:4 (v5) For Yah has chosen Jacob for himself, Israel for his own possession.
  • Exodus 23:22 (v5) But if you indeed listen to his voice, and do all that I speak, then I will be an enemy to your enemies, and an adversary to your…
  • Deuteronomy 4:20 (v5) But Yahweh has taken you, and brought you out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to be to him a people of inheritance, as it is today.
  • Exodus 9:29 (v5) Moses said to him, “As soon as I have gone out of the city, I will spread out my hands to Yahweh. The thunders shall cease, and there will…
  • Deuteronomy 29:2 (v4) Moses called to all Israel, and said to them: Your eyes have seen all that Yahweh did in the land of Egypt to Pharaoh, and to all his…
  • Titus 2:14 (v5) who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify for himself a people for his own possession, zealous for…
  • Revelation 1:6 (v6) and he made us to be a Kingdom, priests to his God and Father—to him be the glory and the dominion forever and ever. Amen.
  • Revelation 12:14 (v4) Two wings of the great eagle were given to the woman, that she might fly into the wilderness to her place, so that she might be nourished…
  • Deuteronomy 28:9 (v6) Yahweh will establish you for a holy people to himself, as he has sworn to you, if you shall keep the commandments of Yahweh your God, and…
  • Psalms 24:1 (v5) The earth is Yahweh’s, with its fullness; the world, and those who dwell in it.
  • Deuteronomy 5:2 (v5) Yahweh our God made a covenant with us in Horeb.
  • Job 41:11 (v5) Who has first given to me, that I should repay him? Everything under the heavens is mine.
  • Isaiah 62:12 (v6) They will call them “The Holy People, Yahweh’s Redeemed”. You will be called “Sought Out, A City Not Forsaken”.
  • Deuteronomy 26:19 (v6) He will make you high above all nations that he has made, in praise, in name, and in honor; and that you may be a holy people to Yahweh…
  • 1 Corinthians 10:26 (v5) for “the earth is the Lord’s, and its fullness.”
  • Leviticus 11:44-45 (v6) For I am Yahweh your God. Sanctify yourselves therefore, and be holy; for I am holy. You shall not defile yourselves with any kind of…
  • Leviticus 19:2 (v6) “Speak to all the congregation of the children of Israel, and tell them, ‘You shall be holy; for I, Yahweh your God, am holy.
  • Deuteronomy 4:33-36 (v4) Did a people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the middle of the fire, as you have heard, and live? Or has God tried to go and…
  • Deuteronomy 32:8-9 (v5) When the Most High gave to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the children of men, he set the bounds of the peoples according…
  • Jeremiah 31:31-33 (v5) “Behold, the days come,” says Yahweh, “that I will make a new covenant with the house of Israel, and with the house of Judah: not according…
  • Joshua 24:24 (v5) The people said to Joshua, “We will serve Yahweh our God, and we will listen to his voice.”
  • 1 Samuel 15:22 (v5) Samuel said, “Has Yahweh as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying Yahweh’s voice? Behold, to obey is better than…
  • 1 Kings 8:53 (v5) For you separated them from among all the peoples of the earth, to be your inheritance, as you spoke by Moses your servant, when you…
  • Psalms 25:10 (v5) All the paths of Yahweh are loving kindness and truth to such as keep his covenant and his testimonies.
  • Psalms 103:17-18 (v5) But Yahweh’s loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him, his righteousness to children’s children, to those…
  • Isaiah 41:8 (v5) “But you, Israel, my servant, Jacob whom I have chosen, the offspring of Abraham my friend,
  • Isaiah 43:1 (v5) But now Yahweh who created you, Jacob, and he who formed you, Israel, says: “Don’t be afraid, for I have redeemed you. I have called you by…
  • Daniel 4:34-35 (v5) At the end of the days I, Nebuchadnezzar, lifted up my eyes to heaven, and my understanding returned to me, and I blessed the Most High,…
  • Romans 12:1 (v6) Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your…
  • 1 Corinthians 3:17 (v6) If anyone destroys God’s temple, God will destroy him; for God’s temple is holy, which you are.
  • Hebrews 11:8 (v5) By faith, Abraham, when he was called, obeyed to go out to the place which he was to receive for an inheritance. He went out, not knowing…
  • Exodus 24:7 (v5) He took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, “We will do all that Yahweh has said, and be…
  • Leviticus 20:26 (v6) You shall be holy to me, for I, Yahweh, am holy, and have set you apart from the peoples, that you should be mine.
  • Deuteronomy 4:9 (v4) Only be careful, and keep your soul diligently, lest you forget the things which your eyes saw, and lest they depart from your heart all…
  • Deuteronomy 28:1 (v5) It shall happen, if you shall listen diligently to Yahweh your God’s voice, to observe to do all his commandments which I command you…
  • Isaiah 1:19 (v5) If you are willing and obedient, you will eat the good of the land;
  • Isaiah 61:6 (v6) But you will be called Yahweh’s priests. Men will call you the servants of our God. You will eat the wealth of the nations. You will boast…
  • 1 Peter 1:15-16 (v6) but just as he who called you is holy, you yourselves also be holy in all of your behavior; because it is written, “You shall be holy; for…
  • Revelation 20:6 (v6) Blessed and holy is he who has part in the first resurrection. Over these, the second death has no power, but they will be priests of God…
  • Deuteronomy 33:2-4 (v6) He said, “Yahweh came from Sinai, and rose from Seir to them. He shone from Mount Paran. He came from the ten thousands of holy ones. At…
  • Jeremiah 11:4-7 (v5) which I commanded your fathers in the day that I brought them out of the land of Egypt, out of the iron furnace,’ saying, ‘Obey my voice,…
  • Exodus 3:1 (v2) Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and…
  • Exodus 3:4 (v3) When Yahweh saw that he came over to see, God called to him out of the middle of the bush, and said, “Moses! Moses!” He said, “Here I am.”
  • Exodus 17:1 (v2) All the congregation of the children of Israel traveled from the wilderness of Sin, starting according to Yahweh’s commandment, and…
  • Deuteronomy 14:21 (vv5–6) You shall not eat of anything that dies of itself. You may give it to the foreigner living among you who is within your gates, that he may…
  • Exodus 3:12 (v2) He said, “Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt,…
  • Leviticus 20:24 (v6) But I have said to you, “You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am…
  • Leviticus 21:7-8 (v6) “ ‘They shall not marry a woman who is a prostitute, or profane. A priest shall not marry a woman divorced from her husband; for he is holy…
  • Leviticus 21:23 (v6) He shall not come near to the veil, nor come near to the altar, because he has a defect; that he may not profane my sanctuaries, for I am…
  • Deuteronomy 11:27 (v5) the blessing, if you listen to the commandments of Yahweh your God, which I command you today;
  • Psalms 50:11-12 (v5) I know all the birds of the mountains. The wild animals of the field are mine. If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world is…
  • Isaiah 56:4 (v5) For Yahweh says, “To the eunuchs who keep my Sabbaths, choose the things that please me, and hold fast to my covenant,
  • Jeremiah 7:23 (v5) but this thing I commanded them, saying, ‘Listen to my voice, and I will be your God, and you shall be my people. Walk in all the way that…
  • Acts 7:38 (vv2–3) This is he who was in the assembly in the wilderness with the angel that spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, who received…
  • Exodus 7:1-14 (v4) Yahweh said to Moses, “Behold, I have made you as God to Pharaoh; and Aaron your brother shall be your prophet. You shall speak all that I…
  • Exodus 12:6 (v1) You shall keep it until the fourteenth day of the same month; and the whole assembly of the congregation of Israel shall kill it at evening.
  • Exodus 16:1 (v1) They took their journey from Elim, and all the congregation of the children of Israel came to the wilderness of Sin, which is between Elim…
  • Exodus 17:8 (v2) Then Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
  • Exodus 18:5 (v2) Jethro, Moses’ father-in-law, came with Moses’ sons and his wife to Moses into the wilderness where he was encamped, at the Mountain of God.
  • 1 Corinthians 10:28 (v5) But if anyone says to you, “This was offered to idols,” don’t eat it for the sake of the one who told you, and for the sake of conscience.…
  • Exodus 12:2 (v1) “This month shall be to you the beginning of months. It shall be the first month of the year to you.
  • Exodus 20:21 (v3) The people stayed at a distance, and Moses came near to the thick darkness where God was.
  • Exodus 24:15-18 (v3) Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. Yahweh’s glory settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six…
  • Leviticus 23:16-18 (v1) The next day after the seventh Sabbath you shall count fifty days; and you shall offer a new meal offering to Yahweh. You shall bring out…
  • Numbers 33:15 (v1) They traveled from Rephidim, and encamped in the wilderness of Sinai.
  • Deuteronomy 5:5-31 (v3) (I stood between Yahweh and you at that time, to show you Yahweh’s word; for you were afraid because of the fire, and didn’t go up onto the…
  • Song of Solomon 8:12 (v5) My own vineyard is before me. The thousand are for you, Solomon, two hundred for those who tend its fruit.
  • Jeremiah 10:16 (v5) The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the maker of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Yahweh of Armies is…
  • Acts 7:30 (v2) “When forty years were fulfilled, an angel of the Lord appeared to him in the wilderness of Mount Sinai, in a flame of fire in a bush.
  • Galatians 4:24 (v2) These things contain an allegory, for these are two covenants. One is from Mount Sinai, bearing children to bondage, which is Hagar.
  • Exodus 34:2 (v3) Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the top of the mountain.

83 distinct cross-references across this passage (86 total citations).

Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)

Explain this passage (26 sources)

Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.

Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4 Which was in the beginning of the month Sivan,…

Which was in the beginning of the month Sivan, containing part of May, and part of June.

That they departed from Rephidim.

Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.

John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain On vv1–6 Exo 19:1 In the third month, when the children…
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain On vv1–6 Heb. Third new moon, called Sivan, including the latter…
Matthew Henry 1710 · Public Domain On v1 Here is, I. The date of that great charter…
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain On vv1–6 In the third month, when the children of Israel…
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6 This chapter introduces the giving of the law upon…
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 6 The children of Israel, having departed from Rephidim, come…
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6 Exo 19:1. In the third month — After they…
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6 The wilderness ... the desert of Sinai - If…
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 4, 5, 6 This day. The same on which they departed from…
Lange's Commentary on the Holy Scriptures 1864 · Public Domain On v1
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain On vv2, 3, 6 were come to the desert of Sinai--The desert has…
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain On vv1–6 The Divine Glory, and the Giving of the Law…
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain On vv1–6 1. the same day] The day of the month…
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain On vv2–6 (2) They were departed from Rephidim.—If Rephidim was where…
C. H. Mackintosh 1880 · Public Domain On v1 Exodus 19
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain On vv1–6 Vers. 1-2. THE JOURNEY TO MOUNT SINAI. From Rephidim…
The Biblical Illustrator 1887 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 5 Wilderness of Sinai.
The Expositor's Bible 1887 · Public Domain On v1
The Preacher's Complete Homiletical Commentary 1892 · Public Domain On v1 Exo_19:1. The Wilderness of Sinai.]—Sinai is the “proper name…
F. W. Grant 1903 · Public Domain On v1 Section 1. (Exo 19:1-25; Exo 20:1-26; Exo 21:1-36; Exo…
J. R. Dummelow 1909 · Public Domain On v1 Preparation for the Giving of the Law
C. I. Scofield 1917 · Public Domain On vv1, 3, 5 In the third month
Paul E. Kretzmann 1924 · Public Domain On v1 The Arrival at Sinai and the First Message
unfoldingWord translationNotes 2017 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 3 In the third month ... on the same day
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 On vv1, 2, 3, 5 19:1-9 God prepared his people to receive the covenant…
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