Exodus 19:21 (LSB)

Passage

Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go down, warn the people, lest they break through to Yahweh to see, and many of them perish.

Nearby Context

Exodus 19:19 And the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder; then Moses spoke and God answered him with thunder.

Exodus 19:20 And Yahweh came down on Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain; and Yahweh called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

Exodus 19:21 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go down, warn the people, lest they break through to Yahweh to see, and many of them perish.

Exodus 19:22 Also let the priests who come near to Yahweh set themselves apart as holy, lest Yahweh break out against them.”

Exodus 19:23 And Moses said to Yahweh, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You warned us, saying, ‘Set bounds about the mountain, and set it apart as holy.’”

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "yahweh", "spoke", "moses", "down", "warn", "people", "lest", and "break". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "yahweh" and "spoke", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 20's "And Yahweh came down on Mount Sinai..." into verse 22's "Also let the priests who come near...", so "yahweh" and "spoke" belong inside that flow. In Exodus context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "yahweh" and "spoke" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.