Deuteronomy 4:11

THE MESSAGE

You gathered. You stood in the shadow of the mountain. The mountain was ablaze with fire, blazing high into the very heart of Heaven. You stood in deep darkness and thick clouds. God spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but you saw nothing—no form, only a voice. He announced his covenant, the Ten Words, by which he commanded you to live. Then he wrote them down on two slabs of stone.

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
You came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of the sky, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.

King James Version
And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.

Lexham English Bible
And so you came near, and you stood under the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire up to the heart of the heaven, dark with a very thick cloud.

English Standard Version
And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom.

New Century Version
When you came and stood at the bottom of the mountain, it blazed with fire that reached to the sky, and black clouds made it very dark.

New English Translation
You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, a mountain ablaze to the sky above it and yet dark with a thick cloud.

Amplified Bible
"You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the [very] heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud and thick gloom.

New American Standard Bible
"You came forward and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain was burning with fire to the heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud, and thick gloom.

Geneva Bible (1587)
Then came you neere and stoode vnder the mountaine, and the mountaine burnt with fire vnto the mids of heauen, and there was darkenesse, cloudes and mist.

Legacy Standard Bible
And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud, and dense gloom.

Contemporary English Version
Mount Sinai was surrounded by deep dark clouds, and fire went up to the sky. You came to the foot of the mountain,

Complete Jewish Bible
You approached and stood at the foot of the mountain; and the mountain blazed with fire to the heart of heaven, with darkness, clouds and thick mist.

Darby Translation
And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and obscurity.

Easy-to-Read Version
You came near and stood at the bottom of the mountain. The mountain burned with fire that reached up to the sky. There were thick black clouds and darkness.

George Lamsa Translation
And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.

Good News Translation
"Tell your children how you went and stood at the foot of the mountain which was covered with thick clouds of dark smoke and fire blazing up to the sky.

Christian Standard Bible®
You came near and stood at the base of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire into the heavens and enveloped in a totally black cloud.

Literal Translation
And you drew near and stood below the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of the heavens, darkness, cloud and thick gloom.

Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And ye came nye, & stode vnder ye mount. But the mount burnt euen vnto the myddes of heauen, and there was darknesse, cloudes, and myst.

American Standard Version
And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.

Bible in Basic English
And you came near, waiting at the foot of the mountain; and flames of fire went up from the mountain to the heart of heaven, with dark clouds, and all was black as night.

Bishop's Bible (1568)
Ye came and stoode also vnder the mountayne, and the mountayne burnt with fire euen vnto the middes of heauen, and there was darknesse, cloudes, and mist.

JPS Old Testament (1917)
And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.

King James Version (1611)
And ye came neere and stood vnder the mountaine, and the mountaine burnt with fire vnto the midst of heauen, with darkenes, cloudes, and thicke darkenesse.

Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And ye drew nigh and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire up to heaven: there was darkness, blackness, and tempest.

English Revised Version
And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire unto the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.

Berean Standard Bible
You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, a mountain blazing with fire to the heavens, with black clouds and deep darkness.

Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And ye neiyiden to the `roote of the hille, that brente `til to heuene; and derknessis, and cloude, and myist weren therynne.

Young's Literal Translation
and ye draw near and stand under the mountain, and the mountain is burning with fire unto the heart of the heavens -- darkness, cloud, yea, thick darkness:

Update Bible Version
And you came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.

Webster's Bible Translation
And ye came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness.

World English Bible
You came near and stood under the mountain; and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of the sky, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.

New King James Version
"Then you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the midst of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick darkness.

New Living Translation
"You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while flames from the mountain shot into the sky. The mountain was shrouded in black clouds and deep darkness.

New Life Bible
You came near and stood at the bottom of the mountain. And the mountain burned with fire into the heavens, which were covered with darkness and black clouds.

New Revised Standard
you approached and stood at the foot of the mountain while the mountain was blazing up to the very heavens, shrouded in dark clouds.

J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
So ye drew near and stood, under the mountain. Now, the mountain, was burning with fire, up to the midst of the heavens, - darkness, cloud, and thick gloom.

Douay-Rheims Bible
And you came to the foot of the mount, which burned even unto heaven: and there was darkness, and a cloud and obscurity in it.

Revised Standard Version
And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom.

New American Standard Bible (1995)
"You came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the very heart of the heavens: darkness, cloud and thick gloom.

Contextual Overview

¹Now listen, Israel, listen carefully to the rules and regulations that I am teaching you to follow so that you may live and enter and take possession of the land that God , the God-of-Your-Fathers, is giving to you. Don't add a word to what I command you, and don't remove a word from it. Keep the commands of God , your God, that I am commanding you. ³You saw with your own eyes what God did at Baal Peor, how God destroyed from among you every man who joined in the Baal Peor orgies. But you, the ones who held tight to God , your God, are alive and well, every one of you, today. ⁵Pay attention: I'm teaching you the rules and regulations that God commanded me, so that you may live by them in the land you are entering to take up ownership. Keep them. Practice them. You'll become wise and understanding. When people hear and see what's going on, they'll say, "What a great nation! So wise, so understanding! We've never seen anything like it." ⁷Yes. What other great nation has gods that are intimate with them the way God , our God, is with us, always ready to listen to us? And what other great nation has rules and regulations as good and fair as this Revelation that I'm setting before you today? ⁹ Just make sure you stay alert. Keep close watch over yourselves. Don't forget anything of what you've seen. Don't let your heart wander off. Stay vigilant as long as you live. Teach what you've seen and heard to your children and grandchildren. ¹⁰ That day when you stood before God , your God, at Horeb, God said to me, "Assemble the people in my presence to listen to my words so that they will learn to fear me in holy fear for as long as they live on the land, and then they will teach these same words to their children." ¹¹You gathered. You stood in the shadow of the mountain. The mountain was ablaze with fire, blazing high into the very heart of Heaven. You stood in deep darkness and thick clouds. God spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but you saw nothing—no form, only a voice. He announced his covenant, the Ten Words, by which he commanded you to live. Then he wrote them down on two slabs of stone. ¹⁴ And God commanded me at that time to teach you the rules and regulations that you are to live by in the land which you are crossing over the Jordan to possess. ¹⁵You saw no form on the day God spoke to you at Horeb from out of the fire. Remember that. Carefully guard yourselves so that you don't turn corrupt and make a form, carving a figure that looks male or female, or looks like a prowling animal or a flying bird or a slithering snake or a fish in a stream. And also carefully guard yourselves so that you don't look up into the skies and see the sun and moon and stars, all the constellations of the skies, and be seduced into worshiping and serving them. God set them out for everybody's benefit, everywhere. But you— God took you right out of the iron furnace, out of Egypt, to become the people of his inheritance—and that's what you are this very day. ²¹But God was angry with me because of you and the things you said. He swore that I'd never cross the Jordan, never get to enter the good land that God , your God, is giving you as an inheritance. This means that I am going to die here. I'm not crossing the Jordan. But you will cross; you'll possess the good land.

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

stood: Deuteronomy 5:23, Exodus 19:16-18, Exodus 20:18, Exodus 20:19

midst: Heb. heart

Reciprocal: Exodus 10:22 - thick darkness Exodus 19:9 - Lo Exodus 19:18 - mount Sinai Deuteronomy 9:15 - the mount Deuteronomy 10:4 - out of the Judges 5:5 - mountains 2 Samuel 22:10 - darkness 1 Kings 8:12 - The Lord 1 Kings 19:12 - a fire 2 Chronicles 6:1 - The Lord Job 3:5 - let a cloud Job 38:1 - General Psalms 18:11 - thick Psalms 97:2 - Clouds Psalms 97:3 - General Ezekiel 1:4 - a great Matthew 17:5 - a voice 2 Thessalonians 1:8 - flaming Hebrews 12:18 - General

Cross-References

Genesis 3:14
God told the serpent: "Because you've done this, you're cursed, cursed beyond all cattle and wild animals, Cursed to slink on your belly and eat dirt all your life. I'm declaring war between you and the Woman, between your offspring and hers. He'll wound your head, you'll wound his heel."

Genesis 4:15
God told him, "No. Anyone who kills Cain will pay for it seven times over." God put a mark on Cain to protect him so that no one who met him would kill him.

Genesis 4:16
Cain left the presence of God and lived in No-Man's-Land, east of Eden.

Genesis 4:19
Lamech married two wives, Adah and Zillah. Adah gave birth to Jabal, the ancestor of all who live in tents and herd cattle. His brother's name was Jubal, the ancestor of all who play the lyre and flute. Zillah gave birth to Tubal-Cain, who worked at the forge making bronze and iron tools. Tubal-Cain's sister was Naamah.

Job 16:18
"O Earth, don't cover up the wrong done to me! Don't muffle my cry! There must be Someone in heaven who knows the truth about me, in highest heaven, some Attorney who can clear my name— My Champion, my Friend, while I'm weeping my eyes out before God. I appeal to the One who represents mortals before God as a neighbor stands up for a neighbor. "Only a few years are left before I set out on the road of no return."

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And ye came near and stood under the mountain,.... At the foot of it, in the lower part of the mountain, as the Targum of Jonathan, and agrees with Exodus 19:17

and the mountain burnt with fire unto the midst of heaven; the flame and smoke went up into the middle of the air: with darkness, clouds, and thick darkness; which thick darkness was occasioned partly by the smoke, which went up like the smoke of a furnace, and partly by the thick clouds, which were on the mount, and covered the face of the heavens, which were black and tempestuous with them; the Septuagint renders it a "tempest", Exodus 19:18, which denotes the obscurity of the law, and the terrors it works in the minds of men.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

A full stop should end Deuteronomy 4:9; and Deuteronomy 4:10 begin, At the time that thou stoodest, etc. Deuteronomy 4:11 then ye came near, etc. Moses, exhorting to heedful observance of the Law, strives to renew the impressions of that tremendous scene which attended its promulgation at Sinai.