Deuteronomy 5:23

23 But as soone as ye herde the voyce out off the darcknesse and sawe the hill burne with fyre, ye came vnto me all the heedes of youre tribes and youre elders:

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 Thou shalt not luste after thi neghbours wife: thou shat not couet thi neyghbours housse, felde, seruaunte, mayde, oxe, asse nor ought that is thi neghbours.

22 These wordes the Lorde spake vnto al youre multitude in the mount out of the fyre, cloude and darcknesse, with a loude voyce and added nomoare there to, and wrote them in .ij. tables of stone and delyuered them vnto me.

23 But as soone as ye herde the voyce out off the darcknesse and sawe the hill burne with fyre, ye came vnto me all the heedes of youre tribes and youre elders:

24 and ye sayed: beholde, the Lorde oure God hath shewed us his glorye and his greatnesse, and we haue herde his voyce out of the fyre, and we haue sene this daye that God maye talke with a man and he yet lyue.

25 And now wherfore shulde we dye that this greate fyre shulde consume us: Yf we shulde heare the voyce of the Lorde oure God any moare, we shulde dye.