Deuteronomy 5:22
אֶֽת־הַדְּבָרִים הָאֵלֶּה דִּבֶּר יְהוָה אֶל־כָּל־קְהַלְכֶם בָּהָר מִתּוֹךְ הָאֵשׁ הֶֽעָנָן וְהָֽעֲרָפֶל קוֹל גָּדוֹל וְלֹא יָסָף וַֽיִּכְתְּבֵם עַל־שְׁנֵי לֻחֹת אֲבָנִים וַֽיִּתְּנֵם אֵלָֽי׃
✦ Hebrew interlinear
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✦ The same verse in five languages
אֶֽת־הַדְּבָרִ֣ים הָאֵ֡לֶּה דִּבֶּר֩ יְהוָ֨ה אֶל־כָּל־קְהַלְכֶ֜ם בָּהָ֗ר מִתּ֤וֹךְ הָאֵשׁ֙ הֶֽעָנָ֣ן וְהָֽעֲרָפֶ֔ל ק֥וֹל גָּד֖וֹל וְלֹ֣א יָסָ֑ף וַֽיִּכְתְּבֵ֗ם עַל־שְׁנֵי֙ לֻחֹ֣ת אֲבָנִ֔ים וַֽיִּתְּנֵ֖ם אֵלָֽי׃
Τὰ ῥήματα ταῦτα ἐλάλησεν Κύριος πρὸς πᾶσαν συναγωγὴν ὑμῶν ἐν τῷ ὄρει ἐκ μέσου τοῦ πυρός· σκότος, γνόφος, θύελλα, φωνὴ μεγάλη· καὶ οὐ προσέθηκεν· καὶ ἔγραψεν αὐτὰ ἐπὶ δύο πλάκας, καὶ ἔδωκέν μοι.
Greek text from Swete's edition, CC BY-SA 4.0
Latin (Vulgate)
Hæc verba locutus est Dominus ad omnem multitudinem vestram in monte de medio ignis et nubis, et caliginis, voce magna, nihil addens amplius: et scripsit ea in duabus tabulis lapideis, quas tradidit mihi.
El Señor dijo estas palabras a toda su asamblea en la montaña, en medio del fuego, de la nube y de la espesa oscuridad, con una gran voz. No añadió nada más. Las escribió en dos tablas de piedra y me las dio.
Classic Spanish (Reina-Valera 1909)
Estas palabras habló Jehová á toda vuestra congregación en el monte, de en medio del fuego, de la nube y de la oscuridad, á gran voz: y no añadió más. Y escribiólas en dos tablas de piedra, las cuales me dió á mí.
The LORD spoke these commandments in a loud voice to your whole assembly out of the fire, the cloud, and the deep darkness on the mountain; He added nothing more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.
✦ What the text says
Summary
The verse states that Yehovah spoke these specific words to the entire assembly at the mountain, emerging from fire, cloud, and thick darkness, in a great voice, and did not add anything further. It then reports that he inscribed the words on two stone tablets and gave them to the speaker (Moses).
Key words
- di.Ber ("he spoke", H1696G) — piel perfect, marking a completed, emphatic act of speaking, distinct from the simple qal.
- kol-qehalKhem — construct chain "assembly of your(pl.)" (H3605 + H6951 + H9026), indicating the totality of the collective group addressed.
- ha.'Esh ("the fire", H0784) — definite singular noun; introduces the first of three nouns describing the setting.
- ya.Saf ("he added", H3254H) — qal perfect with the negation Lo' ("not", H3808), forming a completed-action negative statement: "he did not add."
- va.yikh.te.Vem ("and he inscribed them", H3789 + H9038) — qal narrative form (vav-consecutive) continuing the sequence of action, with third-person plural suffix "them" referring back to ha.de.va.Rim ("the words", H1697G).
What the text says
The clause opens with the direct object marker 'et (H0853) attached to ha.de.va.Rim ha.'E.leh ("the words, these", H1697G + H0428), fronting the object before the verb di.Ber ("he spoke", H1696G). This word order places emphasis on "these words" as the topic, with Yehovah (Yah.weh, H3068G) as the subject who "spoke to" ('el, H0413) "all the assembly of you" (kol-qehalKhem). The location and source are marked by a stack of prepositional phrases: "at the mountain" (ba.Har), "from the midst of" (mi.Tokh) three consecutive definite nouns — "the fire" (ha.'Esh), "the cloud" (he.'a.Nan), and "the thick darkness" (ha.'a.ra.Fel) — followed by the noun phrase "a great voice" (Kol ga.Dol), without a connecting verb, functioning appositionally to describe the manner of speech.
The second half of the verse shifts from the qal perfect ya.Saf ("he added", H3254H) — a completed negative statement, "and he did not add" — into two narrative (vav-consecutive) verbs: va.yikh.te.Vem ("and he inscribed them") and va.yi.te.Nem ("and he gave them"). Both carry the third-person masculine plural suffix -em ("them", H9038), referring back to "the words." The final preposition 'e.Lai ("to me", H0413 + H9030) identifies the recipient in first person, marking a shift from third-person narration about the assembly to a first-person report of receiving the tablets.
Differences between versions
The Hebrew lists three distinct nouns for the setting — ha.'Esh ("the fire"), he.'a.Nan ("the cloud"), ha.'a.ra.Fel ("the thick darkness") — each with its own article. The LXX renders a fourth term, θύελλα ("storm/whirlwind"), alongside σκότος ("darkness"), γνόφος ("gloom"), not present as a separate lexical item in the Hebrew list. The Vulgate follows the Hebrew's three-term structure (ignis, nubis, caliginis) but syntactically links "great voice" (voce magna) differently, treating it as accompanying the speech rather than as a separate appositional noun phrase as in the Hebrew Kol ga.Dol.
This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.