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Saturday, September 6th, 2025
the Week of Proper 17 / Ordinary 22
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New Life Version

Deuteronomy 4:12

Then the Lord spoke to you from the center of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no body. There was only a voice.

Bible Study Resources

Concordances:

- Nave's Topical Bible - Afflictions and Adversities;   God;   Law;   Obedience;   Torrey's Topical Textbook - Church of Israel;  

Dictionaries:

- Bridgeway Bible Dictionary - Idol, idolatry;   Baker Evangelical Dictionary of Biblical Theology - Building;   Disciple, Discipleship;   Fire;   Teach, Teacher;   Word;   Charles Buck Theological Dictionary - Polytheism;   Easton Bible Dictionary - Idol;   Holman Bible Dictionary - Baptism of Fire;   Deuteronomy, the Book of;   Similitude;   Theophany;   Hastings' Dictionary of the Bible - Deuteronomy;   Morrish Bible Dictionary - Similitude;  

Encyclopedias:

- International Standard Bible Encyclopedia - Criticism (the Graf-Wellhausen Hypothesis);   Deuteronomy;   Form;   Ignorance;   Similitude;   The Jewish Encyclopedia - Bat Ḳol;   Theology;   Theophany;   Tobiah ben Eliezer;  

Parallel Translations

Hebrew Names Version
The LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire: you heard the voice of words, but you saw no form; only [you heard] a voice.
King James Version
And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only ye heard a voice.
Lexham English Bible
And Yahweh spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard a sound of words, but you did not see a form—only a voice.
English Standard Version
Then the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.
New Century Version
The Lord spoke to you from the fire. You heard the sound of words, but you did not see him; there was only a voice.
New English Translation
Then the Lord spoke to you from the middle of the fire; you heard speech but you could not see anything—only a voice was heard.
Amplified Bible
"Then the LORD spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of the words, but you saw no form—there was only a voice.
New American Standard Bible
"Then the LORD spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form—there was only a voice.
Geneva Bible (1587)
And the Lorde spake vnto you out of the middes of the fire, and ye heard the voyce of the wordes, but sawe no similitude, saue a voyce.
Legacy Standard Bible
Then Yahweh spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form—only a voice.
Contemporary English Version
and the Lord spoke to you from the fire. You could hear him and understand what he was saying, but you couldn't see him.
Complete Jewish Bible
Then Adonai spoke to you out of the fire! You heard the sound of words but saw no shape, there was only a voice.
Darby Translation
And Jehovah spoke to you from the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but ye saw no form; only [ye heard] a voice.
Easy-to-Read Version
Then the Lord spoke to you from the fire. You heard the sound of someone speaking, but you did not see any form. There was only a voice.
George Lamsa Translation
And the LORD spoke to you on the mountain out of the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.
Good News Translation
Tell them how the Lord spoke to you from the fire, how you heard him speaking but did not see him in any form at all.
Christian Standard Bible®
Then the Lord spoke to you from the fire. You kept hearing the sound of the words, but didn’t see a form; there was only a voice.
Literal Translation
And Jehovah spoke to you out of the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you did not see a form, only a voice.
Miles Coverdale Bible (1535)
And ye LORDE spake vnto you out of the myddes of the fyre. The voyce of his wordes ye herde, neuerthelesse ye sawe no ymage, but herde the voyce onely.
American Standard Version
And Jehovah spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of words, but ye saw no form; only ye heard a voice.
Bible in Basic English
And the voice of the Lord came to you out of the fire: the sound of his words came to your ears but you saw no form; there was nothing but a voice.
Bishop's Bible (1568)
And the Lorde spake vnto you out of the middes of the fire, and ye hearde the voyce of the wordes: but sawe no similitude, saue hearde a voyce only.
JPS Old Testament (1917)
And the LORD spoke unto you out of the midst of the fire; ye heard the voice of words, but ye saw no form; only a voice.
King James Version (1611)
And the Lord spake vnto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voyce of the words, but saw no similitude, onely ye heard a voyce.
Brenton's Septuagint (LXX)
And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire a voice of words, which ye heard: and ye saw no likeness, only ye heard a voice.
English Revised Version
And the LORD spake unto you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of words, but ye saw no form; only ye heard a voice.
Berean Standard Bible
And the LORD spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.
Wycliffe Bible (1395)
And the Lord spak to you fro the myddis of fier; ye herden the vois of hise wordis, and outirli ye sien no fourme.
Young's Literal Translation
`And Jehovah speaketh unto you out of the midst of the fire; a voice of words ye are hearing and a similitude ye are not seeing, only a voice;
Update Bible Version
And Yahweh spoke to you out of the midst of the fire: you heard the voice of words, but you saw no form; [you heard] only a voice.
Webster's Bible Translation
And the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire: ye heard the voice of the words, but saw no similitude; only [ye heard] a voice.
World English Bible
Yahweh spoke to you out of the midst of the fire: you heard the voice of words, but you saw no form; only [you heard] a voice.
New King James Version
And the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the sound of the words, but saw no form; you only heard a voice.
New Living Translation
And the Lord spoke to you from the heart of the fire. You heard the sound of his words but didn't see his form; there was only a voice.
New Revised Standard
Then the Lord spoke to you out of the fire. You heard the sound of words but saw no form; there was only a voice.
J.B. Rotherham Emphasized Bible
Then spake Yahweh unto you out of the midst of the fire, - a voice of words, ye were hearing, no form, were ye seeing, there was only a voice.
Douay-Rheims Bible
And the Lord spoke to you from the midst of the fire. You heard the voice of his words, but you saw not any form at all.
Revised Standard Version
Then the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.
New American Standard Bible (1995)
"Then the LORD spoke to you from the midst of the fire; you heard the sound of words, but you saw no form—only a voice.

Contextual Overview

1 "Now, O Israel, listen to the Laws I am teaching you. Do them so that you may live and go in to take the land for your own that the Lord, the God of your fathers, is giving you. 2 Do not add to the Word that I tell you, and do not take away from it. Keep the Laws of the Lord your God which I tell you. 3 Your eyes saw what the Lord did because of Baal-peor. The Lord your God destroyed from among you all the men who followed the Baal of Peor. 4 But you who stayed faithful to the Lord your God are all alive today. 5 See, I have taught you Laws just as the Lord my God told me. So you are to live by them in the land you are going to have for your own. 6 Keep them and do them. For this will show how wise and understanding you are. The people who will hear all these Laws will say, ‘For sure this great nation is a wise and understanding people.' 7 For what great nation is there that has a god so near as the Lord our God is to us every time we call to Him? 8 What great nation is there that has laws as right as this whole Law which I am giving you today? 9 "Only be careful. Keep watch over your life. Or you might forget the things you have seen. Do not let them leave your heart for the rest of your life. But teach them to your children and to your grandchildren. 10 Remember the day you stood before the Lord your God at Mount Sinai. The Lord said to me, ‘Gather the people together before Me, so I may let them hear My words. Then they may learn to fear Me all the days they live on the earth, and they may teach their children.'

Bible Verse Review
  from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge

the Lord: Deuteronomy 5:4, Deuteronomy 5:22

no similitude: Deuteronomy 4:15, Numbers 12:8, Isaiah 40:18, Colossians 1:15

only ye heard a voice: Heb. save a voice, Deuteronomy 4:33, Deuteronomy 4:36, Exodus 20:22, 1 Kings 19:12, 1 Kings 19:13, Isaiah 30:21, Isaiah 40:3, Isaiah 40:6, Matthew 3:3, Matthew 3:17, Matthew 17:5, John 12:28-30, 2 Peter 1:17, 2 Peter 1:18

Reciprocal: Exodus 19:9 - that the Exodus 19:18 - mount Sinai Judges 5:5 - that Sinai Job 38:1 - General Psalms 97:2 - Clouds Psalms 147:19 - word Ezekiel 1:4 - a great Ezekiel 10:5 - the voice John 1:18 - seen John 5:37 - Ye have Hebrews 12:19 - and the voice

Cross-References

Genesis 4:3
The day came when Cain brought a gift of the fruit of the ground to the Lord.
Genesis 4:4
But Abel brought a gift of the first-born of his flocks and of the fat parts. The Lord showed favor to Abel and his gift.
Genesis 4:14
See, this day You have made me go away from the land. And I will be hidden from Your face. I will run away and move from place to place. And whoever finds me will kill me."
Genesis 4:17
Cain lay with his wife and she was going to have a child and she gave birth to Enoch. Cain built a city and gave it the name of Enoch, the name of his son.
Genesis 4:18
Now Irad was born to Enoch. And Irad became the father of Mehujael. Mehujael became the father of Methushael. And Methushael became the father of Lamech.
Genesis 4:23
And Lamech said to his wives, "Adah and Zillah, listen to my voice. Hear what I say, you wives of Lamech. For I have killed a man for hurting me, and a boy for hitting me.
Genesis 4:24
If those who hurt Cain are punished seven times worse, then those who hurt Lamech will be punished seventy-seven times worse."
Leviticus 26:20
You will use your strength for nothing. For your land will not give food, and the trees of the land will not give fruit.
Leviticus 26:36
Of those of you who are left in the lands of those who hate you, I will make their hearts weak. The sound of a leaf blown by the wind will make them run away even when no one is going after them. They will run away as if it were a sword, and they will fall.
Psalms 109:10
May his children go around begging. And may they look for food far from their destroyed homes.

Gill's Notes on the Bible

And the Lord spake unto you out of the midst of the fire,.... For the Lord descended on Mount Sinai in a cloud, in fire, and was in the thick darkness, from whence he delivered out the ten commands:

ye heard the voice of the words; distinctly and plainly, not only the sound of them, but the words themselves, and so as to understand what was meant by them;

but saw no similitude; not any likeness of the person speaking, by which they could form any idea of him in their minds, which was purposely done to prevent idolatry:

only ye heard a voice; that was all.

Barnes' Notes on the Bible

Hero worship exhibited itself in the practice of setting up images of human form as household gods (Penates, compare Genesis 31:19; Genesis 35:2), or as local and civic divinities: a practice forbidden by Deuteronomy 4:16. Nature worship in its baser shapes is seen in the Egyptian idolatry of animals and animal figures, and is condemned in Deuteronomy 4:17-18 : while its less ignoble flight, the worship of the sun, moon, and stars, is forbidden in Deuteronomy 4:19. The great legislator may be regarded as taking in the passage before us a complete and comprehensive survey of the various forms of idolatrous and corrupt worship practiced by the surrounding Oriental nations, and as particularly and successively forbidding them every one.


 
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