Exodus 19:20

20 descenditque Dominus super montem Sinai in ipso montis vertice et vocavit Mosen in cacumen eius quo cum ascendisset

Exodus 19:20 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 19:20

And the Lord came down on Mount Sinai
In the above visible tokens of his presence and power; otherwise he is the incomprehensible Jehovah, that immense and omnipotent Being, who fills heaven and earth, and cannot be contained and circumscribed in either:

on the top of the mount;
where the fire he descended in rested, and where the smoke and thick cloud were, as a token of his presence:

and the Lord called Moses up to the top of the mount;
who either was at the bottom of it with the people, or in a higher ascent of it between God and them:

and Moses went up;
to the top of it, where the Lord was, as he ordered him: a certain traveller F25 tells us that the top of this mount was scarce thirty feet in circumference.


FOOTNOTES:

F25 Baumgarten Peregrinatio, l. 1. c. 24. p. 61.

Exodus 19:20 In-Context

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
20 descenditque Dominus super montem Sinai in ipso montis vertice et vocavit Mosen in cacumen eius quo cum ascendisset
21 dixit ad eum descende et contestare populum ne forte velint transcendere terminos ad videndum Dominum et pereat ex eis plurima multitudo
22 sacerdotes quoque qui accedunt ad Dominum sanctificentur ne percutiat eos
The Latin Vulgate is in the public domain.