Deuteronomy 5:23

23 {And then} {when you heard} the voice from the midst of the darkness, and [as] the mountain [was] burning with fire, and [and] all the heads of your tribes and your elders approached me,

Deuteronomy 5:23 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 5:23

And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice out of the midst
of the darkness
The thick darkness, where God was, and with which the mountain was covered, ( Exodus 20:21 )

for the mountain did burn with fire;
which is a reason both why the Lord spoke out of the midst of the fire, the mountain on which he descended burning with it and also for his speaking out of the midst of darkness, because not only a thick cloud covered the mountain, but it was altogether on a smoke, which ascended as the smoke of a furnace, ( Exodus 19:16 Exodus 19:18 )

that ye come near unto me, even all the heads of your tribes and your
elders;
or wise men, as the Targum of Jonathan; by which it appears, that not only the common people were frightened at what they heard and saw on Mount Sinai, but those of the first rank and eminence among them, who were the most famous for their authority and wisdom.

Deuteronomy 5:23 In-Context

21 'And you shall not covet the wife of your neighbor, and you shall not crave the house of your neighbor, his field or his slave or his slave woman or his ox and his donkey or anything {that belongs to your neighbor}.'

22 "These words Yahweh spoke to your whole assembly at the mountain from the midst of the fire and the very thick cloud [with] a loud voice, and {he did not add anything}, and [then] he wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

23 {And then} {when you heard} the voice from the midst of the darkness, and [as] the mountain [was] burning with fire, and [and] all the heads of your tribes and your elders approached me,

24 you said, 'Look, Yahweh our God has shown us his glory and his greatness, and we have heard his voice from the midst of the fire; this day we have seen that God can speak with a human being, {yet he remains alive}.

25 And so then why shall we die, for this great fire will consume us if {we continue} to hear the voice of Yahweh our God [any] longer, and [so] we shall die?

Footnotes

• [a]. Literally "And it happened"
• [b]. Literally "and as/when you heard" or "[at] the moment of your hearing"