Exodus 19:17

17 cumque eduxisset eos Moses in occursum Dei de loco castrorum steterunt ad radices montis

Exodus 19:17 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 19:17

And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp
Which was before the mountain and near it, when the above tokens were given of the divine Presence on it; as they were thrown into a panic upon the sound of the trumpet, it was, perhaps, with some difficulty that they were brought out of the camp, or persuaded to quit it; and nothing short of the presence of Moses at the head of them, to go before them, and lead them to the foot of the mountain, could have prevailed upon them to have done it:

to meet with God;
who came forth in such an awful and solemn manner, as their King and lawgiver, to deliver a body of laws to them, to be the rule of their future conduct:

and they stood at the nether part of the mount;
at the bottom of it, where bounds were set, and a fence made, that they should proceed no further, and yet near enough to hear what God said to Moses and to them.

Exodus 19:17 In-Context

15 ait ad eos estote parati in diem tertium ne adpropinquetis uxoribus vestris

16 iam advenerat tertius dies et mane inclaruerat et ecce coeperunt audiri tonitrua ac micare fulgura et nubes densissima operire montem clangorque bucinae vehementius perstrepebat timuit populus qui erat in castris

17 cumque eduxisset eos Moses in occursum Dei de loco castrorum steterunt ad radices montis

18 totus autem mons Sinai fumabat eo quod descendisset Dominus super eum in igne et ascenderet fumus ex eo quasi de fornace eratque mons omnis terribilis

19 et sonitus bucinae paulatim crescebat in maius et prolixius tendebatur Moses loquebatur et Dominus respondebat ei