Exodus 19:18
in Exodus 19Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke, because the LORD had descended on it in fire. And the smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked violently.
BSB
The same verse in ASV and KJV ▾
ASV
And mount Sinai, the whole of it, smoked, because Jehovah descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
KJV
And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire: and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly.
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This verse in Exodus 19
Commentary
10 notes on this verseThe Lord came down upon Mount Sinai. The Shechinah, or glory of the Lord, appeared in the sight of all the people; he shined forth from mount Paran with ten thousand of his saints, attended with a multitude of the holy angels. Hence the law is said to be given by the disposition of angels, Acts vii, 53.
This site's exposition
Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke
on Exodus 19:18-19
The mountain smokes and quakes because the LORD had descended on it in fire. Genesis 19:28 used the same figure of Sodom, smoke rising like smoke from a furnace. Sinai is told in the language of a judgment the reader has already met.
The record, by era
The Church Fathers2 voices
But the sound of that voice and the corporeal appearance of the dove and the "parted tongues as it were of fire that sat upon every one of them," like those terrible manifestations that happened on Mt. Sinai and that pillar of cloud by day and of fire by night, were performed and carried out as figurative acts. Now in these matters special care must be taken lest anyone believe that the nature of God, either the Father, the Son or the Holy Spirit, is subject to change or transformation. And let no one be troubled because sometimes the sign receives the name of the thing signified. Thus the Holy Spirit is said to have descended on Christ in the corporeal appearance, as it were, of a dove and to have remained upon him. Thus also the rock is called Christ because it signifies Christ.
What shall I say about this except that no one is so insane as to believe that the smoke, the fire, the cloud and the darkness and everything else of a similar nature are the substance of either the Word and the Wisdom of God which Christ is or of the Holy Spirit. For not even the Arians have dared to say this about God the Father. Therefore all those things were produced by a creature serving its Creator and were manifested by a suitable dispensation to the human senses.… Perhaps carnal thoughts will suggest that the cloud was certainly seen by the people but that within the cloud Moses saw the Son of God with his bodily eyes, whom the raving heretics will have to be seen in his own substance, because it was said, "Moses entered the cloud where God was."
The Medieval Church1 voice
When about to give the law, the Lord descended in fire and smoke. Through the brilliance of his manifestation he enlightened the humble, and through the murky smoke of error he dimmed the eyes of the proud.
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
Now it was that the earth trembled at the presence of the Lord, and the mountains skipped like rams ( Ps. cxiv. 4, 7 ), that Sinai itself, though rough and rocky, melted from before the Lord God of Israel, Judg. v. 5 . Now it was that the mountains saw him, and trembled ( Hab. iii.
quarantine:debris (2026-07-29) — unbalanced-parens
The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai. The Shechinah, or glory of the Lord, appeared in the sight of all the people; he shined forth from mount Paran with ten thousand of his saints, attended with a multitude of the holy angels. Hence the law is said to be given by the disposition of angels, Acts vii, 53.
3 more voices on this verse
The Puritans and the Awakening2 voices
And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke,....
Now it was that the earth trembled at the presence of the Lord, and the mountains skipped like rams ( Ps. cxiv. 4, 7 ), that Sinai itself, though rough and rocky, melted from before the Lord God of Israel, Judg. v. 5 . Now it was that the mountains saw him, and trembled ( Hab. iii.
The Nineteenth Century1 voice
A commentator
Albert Barnes1798–1870
Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869)
proposed
A furnace - The word in the original is Egyptian, and occurs only in the Pentateuch.
The words behind it
18 Hebrew wordsEvery Hebrew word of this verse in the order it stands, with what it means and the door to its own study. The last column counts the times a word stands in the whole Bible: the rarer the word, the more the places it appears belong together.
| Hebrew | Sound | Meaning | Word study | In the Bible |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| וְהַ֤ר | vehar | and [the] mountain of | H2022 → | 546 times |
| סִינַי֙ | sinai | Sinai | H5514 → | 35 times |
| עָשַׁ֣ן | ʾashan | it was smoking | H6225 → | |
| כֻּלּ֔וֹ | kulo | all of it | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| מִ֠פְּנֵי | mipenei | <from> because | H6440 → | 2123 times |
| אֲשֶׁ֨ר | ʾasher | that | H834 → | 5497 times |
| יָרַ֥ד | yarad | he had come down | H3381 → | 381 times |
| עָלָ֛יו | ʾalav | on it | H5921 → | 5755 times |
| יְהוָ֖ה | yahweh | Yahweh | H3068 → | 6520 times |
| בָּאֵ֑שׁ | baesh | in <the> fire | H784 → | 378 times |
| וַיַּ֤עַל | vaiyaal | and it went up | H5927 → | 890 times |
| עֲשָׁנוֹ֙ | ashano | smoke its | H6227 → | |
| כְּעֶ֣שֶׁן | keeshen | like [the] smoke of | H6227 → | |
| הַכִּבְשָׁ֔ן | hakivshan | <the> furnace | H3536 → | 4 times |
| וַיֶּחֱרַ֥ד | vaiyecherad | and it trembled | H2729 → | |
| כָּל־ | kol- | all | H3605 → | 5413 times |
| הָהָ֖ר | hahar | the mountain | H2022 → | 546 times |
| מְאֹֽד׃ | meod | exceedingly | H3966 → | 300 times |
וְהַ֤רand [the] mountain of
veharH2022 →546 times
סִינַי֙Sinai
sinaiH5514 →35 times
עָשַׁ֣ןit was smoking
ʾashanH6225 →
כֻּלּ֔וֹall of it
kuloH3605 →5413 times
מִ֠פְּנֵי<from> because
mipeneiH6440 →2123 times
אֲשֶׁ֨רthat
ʾasherH834 →5497 times
יָרַ֥דhe had come down
yaradH3381 →381 times
עָלָ֛יוon it
ʾalavH5921 →5755 times
יְהוָ֖הYahweh
yahwehH3068 →6520 times
בָּאֵ֑שׁin <the> fire
baeshH784 →378 times
וַיַּ֤עַלand it went up
vaiyaalH5927 →890 times
עֲשָׁנוֹ֙smoke its
ashanoH6227 →
כְּעֶ֣שֶׁןlike [the] smoke of
keeshenH6227 →
הַכִּבְשָׁ֔ן<the> furnace
hakivshanH3536 →4 times
וַיֶּחֱרַ֥דand it trembled
vaiyecheradH2729 →
כָּל־all
kol-H3605 →5413 times
הָהָ֖רthe mountain
haharH2022 →546 times
מְאֹֽד׃exceedingly
meodH3966 →300 times
A shaded row is a word that stands 400 times or fewer in the Bible.
The walk
8 stopsEach card is a verse this one points to, and under it the verses that one points to in turn. Where several paths arrive at the same place, that place is listed first: the text keeps returning to it.
Through
Exodus 3:2There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a blazing fire from within a bush. Moses saw the bush ablaze with fire, but it was not consumed.
it leads to
- Acts 7:30–35
After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai.
- Isaiah 43:2
When you pass through the waters, I will be with you; and when you go through the rivers, they will not overwhelm you. When you walk through the fire, you will not be scorched;…
- Deuteronomy 33:16
with the choice gifts of the land and everything in it, and with the favor of Him who dwelt in the burning bush. May these rest on the head of Joseph and crown the…
- Mark 12:26
But concerning the dead rising, have you not read about the burning bush in the Book of Moses, how God told him, ‘I am the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the…
- Luke 20:37
Even Moses demonstrates that the dead are raised, in the passage about the burning bush. For he calls the Lord ‘the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.’
- Acts 7:30–35
Through
Revelation 15:8And the temple was filled with smoke from the glory of God and from His power; and no one could enter the temple until the seven plagues of the seven angels were completed.
it leads to
- Isaiah 6:4
At the sound of their voices the doorposts and thresholds shook, and the temple was filled with smoke.
- 1 Kings 8:10–11
And when the priests came out of the Holy Place, the cloud filled the house of the LORD
- Isaiah 6:4
Through
Genesis 19:28He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace.
it leads to
- Revelation 18:9
Then the kings of the earth who committed sexual immorality and lived in luxury with her will weep and wail at the sight of the smoke rising from the fire that consumes her.
- Revelation 18:9
Where this verse is studied
On this page
Studies16
About Exodus
This page draws on Albert Barnes, Notes, Explanatory and Practical, on the Old and New Testaments (1832-1869); Augustine of Hippo, LETTER 169; Augustine of Hippo, THE TRINITY 2.15.25; Bede, Commentary on Acts 2; John Gill, Exposition of the Old Testament (1748-1763); John Wesley, Explanatory Notes upon the Old Testament; Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: The Pentateuch and Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible.