1 In the third month of the departure of Israel out of the land of Egypt, on this day they came into the wilderness of Sinai: 2 For departing out of Raphidim, and coming to the desert of Sinai, they camped in the same place, and there Israel pitched their tents over against the mountain. 3 And Moses went up to God: and the Lord called unto him from the mountain, and said: Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel: 4 You have seen what I have done to the Egyptians, how I have carried you upon the wings of eagles, and have taken you to myself. 5 If therefore you will hear my voice, and keep my covenant, you shall be my peculiar possession above all people: for all the earth is mine. 6 And you shall be to me a priestly kingdom, and a holy nation. Those are the words thou shalt speak to the children of Israel. 7 Moses came, and calling together the elders of the people, he declared all the words which the Lord had commanded. 8 And all the people answered together: All that the Lord hath spoken, we will do. And when Moses had related the people’s words to the Lord, 9 The Lord said to him: Lo, now will I come to thee in the darkness of a cloud, that the people may hear me speaking to thee, and may believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people to the Lord. 10 And he said to him: Go to the people, and sanctify them today, and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments. 11 And let them be ready against the third day: for on the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai. 12 And thou shalt appoint certain limits to the people round about, and thou shalt say to them: Take heed you go not up into the mount, and that ye touch not the borders thereof: every one that toucheth the mount dying he shall die. 13 No hands shall touch him, but he shall be stoned to death, or shall be shot through with arrows: whether it be beast, or man, he shall not live. When the trumpet shall begin to sound, then let them go up into the mount. 14 And Moses came down from the mount to the people, and sanctified them. And when they had washed their garments, 15 He said to them: Be ready against the third day, and come not near your wives. 16 And now the third day was come, and the morning appeared: and behold thunders began to be heard, and lightning to flash, and a very thick cloud to cover the mount, and the noise of the trumpet sounded exceeding loud, and the people that was in the camp, feared. 17 And when Moses had brought them forth to meet God from the place of the camp, they stood at the bottom of the mount. 18 And all mount Sinai was on a smoke: because the Lord was come down upon it in fire, and the smoke arose from it as out of a furnace: and all the mount was terrible. 19 And the sound of the trumpet grew by degrees louder and louder, and was drawn out to a greater length: Moses spoke, and God answered him. 20 And the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, in the very top of the mount, and he called Moses unto the top thereof. And when he was gone up thither, 21 He said unto him: Go down, and charge the people: lest they should have a mind to pass the limits to see the Lord, and a very great multitude of them should perish. 22 The priests also that come to the Lord, let them be sanctified, lest he strike them. 23 And Moses said to the Lord: The people cannot come up to mount Sinai: for thou did charge, and command, saying: Set limits about the mount, and sanctify it. 24 And the Lord said to him: Go, get thee down: and thou shalt come up, thou and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people pass the limits, nor come up to the Lord, lest he kill them. 25 And Moses went down to the people and told them all.
Exodus · Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Exodus 19 Douay-Rheims (Challoner), American Edition 1899
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Aaron
Moses' brother and spokesman, Israel's first high priest.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 4–40; Leviticus 8–10
Moses
Drawn from the Nile, he led Israel out of Egypt and received God's Law.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2–Deuteronomy 34
Cross references (24)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Exodus 16:1; Exodus 12:6; Exodus 12:2; Numbers 33:15; Leviticus 23:16–18
- 2 Exodus 3:1; Exodus 17:1; Exodus 3:12; Exodus 17:8; Exodus 18:5
- 3 Exodus 3:4; Deuteronomy 5:5–31; Acts 7:38; Exodus 24:15–18; Exodus 20:21
- 4 Deuteronomy 32:11–12; Isaiah 63:9; Isaiah 40:31; Deuteronomy 29:2; Revelation 12:14
- 5 Deuteronomy 14:2; Deuteronomy 7:6; Deuteronomy 26:18; Exodus 15:26; Malachi 3:17
- 6 Revelation 5:10; 1 Peter 2:9; 1 Peter 2:5; Deuteronomy 7:6; Revelation 1:6
- 7 Exodus 4:29–30; Exodus 3:16; 1 Corinthians 15:1
- 8 Exodus 24:7; Exodus 24:3; Joshua 24:24; Nehemiah 10:29; Deuteronomy 5:27–29
- 9 Deuteronomy 4:36; Exodus 19:16; Exodus 24:15–16; Psalm 97:2; Matthew 17:5
- 10 Hebrews 10:22; Leviticus 11:44–45; Genesis 35:2; Leviticus 11:25; Numbers 8:21
- 11 Exodus 19:16; John 3:13; Exodus 34:5; Deuteronomy 33:2; Exodus 19:18
- 12 Hebrews 12:20–21; Joshua 3:4; Exodus 19:21; Deuteronomy 4:9; Exodus 10:28
- 13 Exodus 19:16; 1 Thessalonians 4:16; Hebrews 12:20; Leviticus 20:15–16; Exodus 19:19
- 14 Exodus 19:10
- 15 1 Corinthians 7:5; Exodus 19:11; 1 Samuel 21:4–5; Joel 2:16; Zechariah 6:3
- 16 Hebrews 12:18–19; Psalm 18:11–14; Revelation 4:1; Hebrews 12:21; Revelation 4:5
- 17 Deuteronomy 4:10; Deuteronomy 5:5
- 18 Judges 5:5; Psalm 144:5; Revelation 15:8; Exodus 3:2; Genesis 19:28
- 19 Psalm 81:7; Exodus 19:16; Nehemiah 9:13; Hebrews 12:21; Exodus 19:13
- 20 Nehemiah 9:13; Exodus 24:18; Exodus 34:4; Exodus 24:12–13; Exodus 19:11
- 21 1 Samuel 6:19; Exodus 3:5; Hebrews 12:28–29; Exodus 19:12–13; Exodus 3:3
- 22 Exodus 24:5; 2 Samuel 6:6–8; Exodus 19:14–15; Acts 5:5; 1 Chronicles 13:9–11
- 23 Exodus 19:12; Joshua 3:4–5
- 24 Hebrews 4:16; Hebrews 12:18–25; Hebrews 12:29; John 1:17; Galatians 3:10–11
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
When they were bending and shooting bows, they did also utter the words of most forward promise, saying, "Whatsoever things the Lord our God hath spoken we will do, and we will hear." "They have been turned back in the day of war:" because the promise of obedience not hearing but temptation doth prove.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 8 (1888)
For the Word is not stoned, but casts stones when He pleases; and uses a sling against wild beasts--that is, words--approaching the Mount in an unholy way.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)