Deuteronomy 5:24

24 and ye said, Behold, the Lord our God has shewn us his glory, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: this day we have seen that God shall speak to man, and he shall live.

Deuteronomy 5:24 Meaning and Commentary

Deuteronomy 5:24

And ye said, behold, the Lord our God hath showed us his glory
and his greatness
In descending on Mount Sinai in the manner he did, and giving the law from thence with such solemnity; for there was a glory in the ministration of it, as the apostle argues ( 2 Corinthians 3:7-11 ) , it being delivered with so much majesty, and such a glorious apparatus attending it; see ( Deuteronomy 33:2 ) . Aben Ezra interprets this of the appearance of fire in which the Lord was, "and his greatness", of the thunders and lightnings, and the voice of the trumpet:

and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire;
the ten words, as the same interpreter rightly notes, which were vocally and audibly expressed out of the fire:

we have seen this day, that God doth talk with man, and he liveth;
they had proof of it in themselves; God had been talking with them out of the fire, and yet it did not reach and consume them, but they were still alive.

Deuteronomy 5:24 In-Context

22 These words the Lord spoke to all the assembly of you in the mountain out of the midst of the fire— darkness, blackness, storm, a loud voice—and he added no more, and he wrote them on two tables of stone, and he gave them to me.
23 And it came to pass when ye heard the voice out of the midst of the fire, for the mountain burned with fire, that ye came to me, even all the heads of your tribes, and your elders:
24 and ye said, Behold, the Lord our God has shewn us his glory, and we have heard his voice out of the midst of the fire: this day we have seen that God shall speak to man, and he shall live.
25 And now let us not die, for this great fire will consume us, if we shall hear the voice of the Lord our God any more, and we shall die.
26 For what flesh which has heard the voice of the living God, speaking out of the midst of the fire, as we , and shall live?

Footnotes 1

The Brenton translation of the Septuagint is in the public domain.