Exodus 19:3

3 Forsooth Moses went up into the hill to God; and the Lord called him from the mount, and said, Thou shalt say these things to the house of Jacob, and thou shalt tell to the sons of Israel, (And Moses went up the mountain to meet with God/And Moses went up God's mountain; and the Lord called to him from the mount, and said, Thou shalt say these things to the house of Jacob, and thou shalt tell it to the Israelites,)

Exodus 19:3 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 19:3

And Moses went up unto God
Who was in the pillar of cloud upon the top of the mount; this was on the second day, according to the Targum of Jonathan: "the Lord called unto him out of the mountain"; or had called unto him, as Aben Ezra, since without his leave he could not have gone up. He called to him out of the cloud upon the top of the mountain to come up, and being come near him, he called to him, and spoke with an articulate voice, as follows:

saying, thus shalt thou say, to the house of Jacob, and tell the
children of Israel;
which are the same, and are described as descending from the same person, who was called by both names; the one was his name in the former and lower state of his life, the other in the latter and more prosperous one; and his posterity are called by these two names, as Bishop Patrick observes, to put them in mind, that they who had lately been as low as Jacob, when he went to Padanaram, were now grown as great as God made him when he came from thence, and was called Israel.

Exodus 19:3 In-Context

1 In the third month of the going of Israel out of the land of Egypt, in this day they came into the wilderness of Sinai; (In the third month of Israel going out of the land of Egypt, on this day they came into the Sinai Desert;)
2 for they went forth from Rephidim, and came till into the desert of Sinai, and they setted tents in the same place; and there Israel setted tents, even against the hill (and Israel pitched their tents there, opposite the mountain).
3 Forsooth Moses went up into the hill to God; and the Lord called him from the mount, and said, Thou shalt say these things to the house of Jacob, and thou shalt tell to the sons of Israel, (And Moses went up the mountain to meet with God/And Moses went up God's mountain; and the Lord called to him from the mount, and said, Thou shalt say these things to the house of Jacob, and thou shalt tell it to the Israelites,)
4 Ye yourselves have seen what things I have done to [the] Egyptians, how I bare you on the wings of eagles, and took you to me (and brought you here to me).
5 Therefore if ye shall hear my voice, and shall keep my covenant, ye shall be to me into a specialty of all peoples (ye shall be special to me out of all peoples), that is, a thing loved excellently; for all the earth is mine;
Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.