for they could not stand that which was commanded, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned”.
Parallel Translations
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for they could not stand that which was commanded, “If even an animal touches the mountain, it shall be stoned”.
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For they were not able to abyde that which was spoken. If a beast had touched the mountayne it must have bene stoned or thrust thorowe with a darte:
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(For they were not able to abide that which was commanded, yea, though a beast touche the mountaine, it shalbe stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to Hebrews 12:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 19:12-13 You shall set bounds to the people all around, saying, ‘Be careful that you don’t go up onto the mountain, or touch its border. Whoever touches the mountain shall be surely put to death. No hand shall touch him, but he shall surely be stoned or shot through; whether it is animal or man, he shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds long, they shall come up to the mountain.”
- Exodus 19:16 On the third day, when it was morning, there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud on the mountain, and the sound of an exceedingly loud trumpet; and all the people who were in the camp trembled.
- Deuteronomy 33:2 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 his right hand was a fiery law for them.
- Galatians 2:19 For I, through the law, died to the law, that I might live to God.
- Galatians 3:10 For as many as are of the works of the law are under a curse. For it is written, “Cursed is everyone who doesn’t continue in all things that are written in the book of the law, to do them.”
- Romans 3:19-20 Now we know that whatever things the law says, it speaks to those who are under the law, that every mouth may be closed, and all the world may be brought under the judgment of God. Because by the works of the law, no flesh will be justified in his sight; for through the law comes the knowledge of sin.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 20 (For they could not endure that which was…
20 (For they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, or thrust through with a dart:
Ver. 20. For they could not endure] This shows the nature and use of the law, contrary to that of the gospel. It is a killing letter, written in blood, holding forth justice only, and no mercy.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain The reason of the foregoing deprecation, and which adds…
The reason of the foregoing deprecation, and which adds to the terribleness of this covenant dispensation; for the voice surpassed their strength and capacity, that they must die if they heard it any more, so dreadful was the sound and matter of it; for the commandment and threatening was: That if any man or beast did but so much as touch the mountain, they should die for it, Exo 19:12,13,21,23,24. Therefore was Moses so strictly charged to look to it, and to provide against it, showing the dreadfulness of that covenant dispensation, that if men did not keep their beasts from coming near, they should be stoned or darted to death; how much more themselves, if they should transgress the law, which, though it was designed to lead them unto Christ, yet was not generally so discerned or used by them! So that if the publication of it be so terrible, how much more the punishment for breaking it! Exo 20:20.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And so terrible was the sight,.... Of the smoke,…
And so terrible was the sight,.... Of the smoke, fire, and lightnings; or of God himself, who descended on the mount; with which agrees the Arabic version, which renders the words, "and so terrible was he who vouchsafed himself to be seen"; not in the bush burning with fire; at which time Moses was afraid to look upon God, Exo 3:6 but on Mount Sinai, when the law was given:
that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake: perhaps he might say this, when he spake, and God answered him, Exo 19:19. These words are nowhere recorded in Scripture; wherefore the apostle had them either by divine revelation, or from tradition, confirmed by the former: for the Jews have a notion that Moses did quake and tremble, and when upon the mount; and that he expressed his fear and dread. They have such a tradition as this (e);
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"when Moses ascended on high, the ministering angels said before the holy blessed God, Lord of the world, what has this man, born of a woman, to do among us? he said unto them, to receive the law he is come; they replied before him, that desirable treasure, which is treasured up with thee, nine hundred, and seventy, and four generations, before the world was created, dost thou seek to give to flesh and blood? "What is man, that thou art mindful of him, and the son of man, that thou visitest him? who hast set thy glory above the heavens!" The holy blessed God said to Moses, return them an answer; he said, before him, Lord of the world, , "I am afraid", lest they should burn, (or consume) me, with the breath of their mouth.''
Compare this last clause with Th2 2:8 and elsewhere (f) those words being cited, he called unto Moses, Exo 25:16 it is observed:
"this Scripture comes not, but "to terrify him"; that so the law might be given with fear, fervour, and trembling; as it is said, Psa 2:11''
Once more (g),
"at the time that the holy blessed God said to Moses, "go, get thee down, for thy people have corrupted themselves", Exo 32:7 , "Moses trembled"; and he could not speak, &c.''
And again, it is said (h), that when Moses was on Mount Sinai, supplicating for the people of Israel, five destroying angels appeared, and immediately , "Moses was afraid". Now this circumstance is mentioned by the apostle, to aggravate the terror of that dispensation; that Moses, a great and good man; and who had much familiarity with God; the general of the people of Israel; their leader and commander; a man of great courage and presence of mind; and was their mediator between God and them; and yet feared, and quaked: the best of men are not without sin; and the most holy man on earth cannot stand before a holy God, and his holy law, upon the foot of his own righteousness, without trembling: it is an awful thing to draw nigh to God; and there is no such thing as doing it without a Mediator; and that Mediator must be more than a creature: and it is our happiness that we have such a Mediator, who never feared, nor quaked; who failed not, nor was he discouraged.
(e) T. Bab. Sabbat, fol. 88. 2. Yalkut, 2. par. 2. fol. 92. (f) T. Bab. Yoma, fol. 4. 2. (g) Zohar in Exod. fol. 84. 4. (h) Midrash Kohelet, fol. 69. 4.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain For they could not bear - The terror which…
For they could not bear - The terror which seized them, when they heard those words proclaimed, If even a beast, &c. Exod. xix, 12, &c.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Heb 12:20-21. For they could not endure that which…
Heb 12:20-21. For they could not endure that which was commanded — That is, either, 1st, The law itself, so strict and holy, and promulged amidst such terrors seen and heard: or, 2d, The sense is, they could not bear to hear the following charge, or endure the terror which seized them when they heard those words proclaimed, And if even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned, &c. And so terrible was the sight — That manifestation of the divine presence, that even Moses — (Notwithstanding his office as a mediator, his great sanctity, and his having been frequently admitted to a very near intercourse with God, who had often spoken to him as a man speaketh to his friend;) said, I exceedingly fear and quake — This circumstance is not recorded in the history: but seeing the apostle mentions it here in this letter to the Hebrews as a thing known to them, it seems probable that they had it from tradition, or that it was recorded in some Jewish writing then extant. At other times Moses acted as a mediator between God and the people; but while the ten commandments were pronounced amidst blackness, darkness, and tempest, preceded by the sound of the trumpet waxing louder and louder, Moses stood as one of the hearers, Exo 19:25; Exo 20:19.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain For they could not endure that which was commanded…
For they could not endure that which was commanded - They could not sustain the awe produced by the fact that God uttered his commands himself. The meaning is not that the commands themselves were intolerable, but that the manner in which they were communicated inspired a terror which they could not bear. They feared that they should die; Exo 20:19.
And if so much as a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned - Exo 19:13. The prohibition was, that neither beast nor man should touch it on pain of death. The punishment was to be either by stoning, or being “shot through.”
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Or thrust through with a dart - Exo 19:13. “Or shot through.” This phrase, however, though it is found in the common editions of the New Testament, is wanting in all the more valuable manuscripts; in all the ancient versions; and it occurs in none of the Greek ecclesiastical writers, with one exception. It is omitted now by almost all editors of the New Testament. It is beyond all doubt an addition of later times, taken from the Septuagint of Exo 19:13. Its omission does not injure the sense.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain that which was commanded--"the interdict" [TITTMANN]. A stern interdictory…
that which was commanded--"the interdict" [TITTMANN]. A stern interdictory mandate is meant.
And--rather, "Even if a beast (much more a man) touch," &c.
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or thrust through with a dart--omitted in the oldest manuscripts. The full interdict in Exo 19:12-13 is abbreviated here; the beast alone, being put for "whether man or beast"; the stoning, which applies to the human offender, alone being specified, the beast's punishment, namely, the being thrust through with a dart, being left to be understood.
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 20. While 18 and 19 give the essential particulars…
20. While 18 and 19 give the essential particulars of the Sinaitic scene, 20 and 21 are added as the aggravations of the fearfulness of the whole.
Endure that… commanded—Namely, the law that if even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned. The command that the intruding beast should be slain is in Exo_19:13. This command they could not endure. If the English reader will place namely before and he will get the meaning. Or thrust… dart is rejected by the best authorities.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 20. they could not endure that which was commanded,…
20. they could not endure that which was commanded, And if so much as a beast …] Rather, “they endured not the injunction, If even a beast …” (Exo_19:12-13). This injunction seemed to them to indicate an awful terror and sanctity in the environment of the mountain. It filled them with alarm. The Jewish Hagadah said that at the utterance of each commandment the Israelites recoiled twelve miles, and were only brought forward again by the ministering angels. St Paul, in different style, contrasts “the Mount Sinai which gendereth to bondage” with “the Jerusalem which is free and the mother of us all” (Gal_4:24-26).
or thrust through with a dart] This clause is a gloss added from Exo_19:13. Any man who touched the mountain was to be stoned, any beast to be transfixed (Exo_19:13): but the quotation is here abbreviated, and the allusion is summary as in Heb_7:5; Act_7:16.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (20) There is no sufficient reason for enclosing this…
(20) There is no sufficient reason for enclosing this verse and the next in a parenthesis.
And if so much as.—Better, If even a beast touch the mountain, it shall be stoned (Exo_19:12-13). The next clause, “or thrust through with a dart,” is absent from our best authorities; and has accidentally found its way into the text from Exo_19:13.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 20. For they could not endure. The command and…
20. For they could not endure. The command and penalty of Exod. 19:12, added to their terror.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.