Exodus 19:21 (WEB)

Passage

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

Nearby Context

Exodus 19:19 When the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke, and God answered him by a voice.

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

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

Exodus 19:22 Let the priests also, who come near to Yahweh, sanctify themselves, lest Yahweh break out on them.”

Exodus 19:23 Moses said to Yahweh, “The people can’t come up to Mount Sinai, for you warned us, saying, ‘Set bounds around the mountain, and sanctify it.’”

Study Lenses

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

The nearby context moves from verse 20's "Yahweh came down on Mount Sinai to..." into verse 22's "Let the priests also who come near...", so "yahweh" and "said" 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 "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.