Exodus 19:16

And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.

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Word by word — the Hebrew

Word	Hebrew	Strong’s	Meaning
third	הַשְּׁלִישִׁ֜י ha.she.li.Shi	H7992	third · definite article + ordinal number, masculine singular absolute
day	בַיּ֨וֹם vai.Yom	H3117	a day (as the warm hours) · preposition with the article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
morning	הַבֹּ֗קֶר ha.Bo.ker	H1242	properly · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
thunders	קֹלֹ֨ת ko.Lot	H6963	a voice or sound · noun, common feminine plural absolute
lightnings	וּבְרָקִ֜ים u.ve.ra.Kim	H1300	lightning · conjunction + noun, common masculine plural absolute
thick	כָּבֵד֙ ka.Ved	H3515	heavy · adjective, masculine singular absolute
cloud	וְעָנָ֤ן ve.'a.Nan	H6051	a cloud (as covering the sky) · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular absolute
mount	הָהָ֔ר ha.Har	H2022	a mountain or range of hills (sometimes used figurative… · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
voice	וְקֹ֥ל ve.Kol	H6963	a voice or sound · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular construct
trumpet	שֹׁפָ֖ר sho.Far	H7782	a cornet (as giving a clear sound) or curved horn · noun, common masculine singular absolute
exceeding	מְאֹ֑ד me.'Od	H3966	properly · cardinal number, masculine singular absolute
loud	חָזָ֣ק cha.Zak	H2389	strong (usu. in a bad sense · adjective, masculine singular absolute
people	הָעָ֖ם ha.'Am	H5971	a people (as a congregated unit) · definite article + noun, common masculine singular absolute
camp	בַּֽמַּחֲנֶֽה Ba.ma.cha.Neh	H4264	an encampment (of travellers or troops) · preposition with the article + noun, common feminine singular absolute
trembled	וַיֶּחֱרַ֥ד vai.ye.che.Rad	H2729	to shudder with terror · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular

Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).

Cross-references

Hebrews 12:18-19 For ye are not come unto the mount that might be touched, and that burned with fire, nor unto blackness, and darkness, and tempest,
Psalms 18:11-14 He made darkness his secret place; his pavilion round about him were dark waters and thick clouds of the skies.
Hebrews 12:21 And so terrible was the sight, that Moses said, I exceedingly fear and quake:)
Revelation 4:1 After this I looked, and, behold, a door was opened in heaven: and the first voice which I heard was as it were of a trumpet talking with me…
Psalms 77:18 The voice of thy thunder was in the heaven: the lightnings lightened the world: the earth trembled and shook.
Revelation 4:5 And out of the throne proceeded lightnings and thunderings and voices: and there were seven lamps of fire burning before the throne, which a…
Revelation 8:5 And the angel took the censer, and filled it with fire of the altar, and cast it into the earth: and there were voices, and thunderings, and…
Revelation 11:19 And the temple of God was opened in heaven, and there was seen in his temple the ark of his testament: and there were lightnings, and voices…

Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 19:16–end

Now, at length, comes that memorable day, that terrible day of the Lord, that day of judgment, in which Israel heard the voice of the Lord God speaking to them out of the midst of the fire, and lived, Deu 4:33. Never was there such a sermon preached, before nor since, as this which was here preached to the church in the wilderness. For, I. The preacher was God himself (Exo 19:18): The Lord descended in fire, and (Exo 19:20), The Lord came down upon mount Sinai. The shechinah, or glory of the Lord, appeared in the sight of all the people; he shone forth from mount Paran with ten thousands of his saints (Deu 33:2), that is, attended, as the divine Majesty always is, by a multitude of the holy…

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Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 19:16

on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, &c.--The descent of God was signalized by every object imagination can conceive connected with the ideas of grandeur and of awe. But all was in keeping with the character of the law about to be proclaimed. As the mountain burned with fire, God was exhibited as a consuming fire to the transgressors of His law. The thunder and lightning, more awful amid the deep stillness of the region and reverberating with terrific peals among the mountains, would rouse the universal attention; a thick cloud was an apt emblem of the dark and shadowy dispensation (compare Mat 17:5). the voice of a trumpet--This gave the scene the char…

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Adam Clarke on Exodus 19:16

Thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud - and the voice of the trumpet - The thunders, lightnings, etc., announced the coming, as they proclaimed the majesty, of God. Of the thunders and lightnings, and the deep, dark, dismal, electric cloud, from which the thunders and lightnings proceeded, we can form a tolerable apprehension; but of the loud, long-sounding trumpet, we can scarcely form a conjecture. Such were the appearances and the noise that all the people in the camp trembled, and Moses himself was constrained to say, "I exceedingly fear and quake," Heb 12:21. Probably the sound of the trumpet was something similar to that which shall be blown by the angel when he sweareth, by Him t…

The Church Fathers

Again God produces the ordinary lightnings and thunders. But because they were done in an unusual manner on Mt. Sinai, and those voices were spoken there without a confused noise but in such a manner that it was evident from the most unmistakable proofs, … certain significant meanings were attached to them. Then they were miracles.
— Augustine of Hippo, THE TRINITY 3.5.11

The law then was obviously given on the third day of the third month. Now count the days from the fourteenth of the first month, when the pasch was kept, to the third day of the third month. You will have seventeen of the first month, thirty of the second, three of the third, which makes fifty.
— Augustine of Hippo, LETTER 55

Yet the third day is always made fitting for sacred mysteries. For when the people had gone out of Egypt, on the third day it offers sacrifice to God, and on the third day it is purified; and the resurrection of the Lord is on the third day; and many other mysteries are enclosed within this day.
— Origen of Alexandria, HOMILIES ON GENESIS 8.4

The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).

Dictionary and topics

Commandments, the Ten — (Ex. 34:28; Deut. 10:4, marg. “ten words”) i.e., the Decalogue (q.v.), is a summary of the immutable moral law. These commandments were first given in their written form to the people of Israel when…
Festivals, Religious — There were daily (Lev. 23), weekly, monthly, and yearly festivals, and great stress was laid on the regular observance of them in every particular (Num. 28:1-8; Ex. 29:38-42; Lev. 6:8-23; Ex. 30:7-9;…
Law of Moses — Is the whole body of the Mosaic legislation (1 Kings 2:3; 2 Kings 23:25; Ezra 3:2). It is called by way of eminence simply “the Law” (Heb. Torah, Deut. 1:5; 4:8, 44; 17:18, 19; 27:3, 8). As a written…
Thunder — Often referred to in Scripture (Job 40:9; Ps. 77:18; 104:7). James and John were called by our Lord “sons of thunder” (Mark 3:17). In Job 39:19, instead of “thunder,” as in the Authorized Version,…
Cloud · PILLAR OF — PILLAR OF
Cloud Of Glory · Special appearances of: At giving of the law — Special appearances of: At giving of the law
Darkness · .See al — .See al
God · .To Moses, at Sinai — .To Moses, at Sinai
Law Of Moses, The · Remarkable phenomena connected with, at giving of — Remarkable phenomena connected with, at giving of
Sinai · .The law — .The law
Symbols And Similitudes · Of the divine presence, the pillar of clou — Of the divine presence, the pillar of clou
Thunder

Exodus 19:16

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 19:16–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 19:16

Adam Clarke on Exodus 19:16

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

Exodus 19:16

Word by word — the Hebrew

Cross-references

Commentary

Matthew Henry on Exodus 19:16–end

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Exodus 19:16

Adam Clarke on Exodus 19:16

The Church Fathers

Dictionary and topics

John Gill on Exodus 19:16

John Calvin on Exodus 19:16-20

Keil & Delitzsch on Exodus 19:16–end

Tyndale Open Study Notes on Exodus 19:16-25

Rashi on Exodus 19:16