Exodus 19:18

Summary

Exodus 19:18 describes Mount Sinai completely covered in smoke because Yehovah had descended upon it in fire. The smoke rose like the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mountain shook violently.

Key words

• 'a.Shan ("it was smoking", H6225) — qal perfect, third person masculine singular, describing the completed state of the mountain smoking.
• ku.Lo ("all of it", H3605 + suffix) — construct noun with pronominal suffix, emphasizing that the entire mountain, not just its peak, was smoking.
• ya.Rad ("he had come down", H3381) — qal perfect, indicating an action prior to or simultaneous with the smoking, introduced by mi.pe.nei 'a.Sher ("because", H6440I + H0834A), a causal construction.
• i.Ya.'al ("it went up", H5927G) — qal narrative form (vav-consecutive), marking sequential narrative action: the smoke's rising.
• i.ye.che.Rad ("it trembled", H2729) — qal narrative form, again vav-consecutive, marking the final sequential event: the mountain's violent shaking.

What the text says

The verse opens with the subject Har Sinai ("mountain of Sinai", H2022G + H5514G) followed by the verb 'a.Shan ("it was smoking", H6225) in the perfect aspect, establishing the smoking as a completed, settled state. The phrase ku.Lo ("all of it") reinforces totality — the entire mountain, not merely its summit. The causal clause mi.pe.nei 'a.Sher yaRad 'alav Yehovah ba.'Esh ("because Yehovah had come down upon it in the fire") explains the cause: Yehovah's descent, using the preposition ba ("in", H9003) with 'Esh ("fire", H0784), indicating the fire as the medium of the descent rather than a separate phenomenon.

The narrative then shifts to sequential vav-consecutive verbs — va.i.Ya.'al ("and it went up") and va.i.ye.che.Rad ("and it trembled") — which move the action forward: first the smoke rising like 'Eshen ha.Kivshan ("smoke of the furnace", H6227 + H3536), then the mountain's trembling, intensified by me.'Od ("exceedingly", H3966). The construct chain kol ha.Har ("all the mountain", H3605 + H2022G) again stresses totality, parallel to kul.lo earlier in the verse.

Differences between versions

The LXX renders the causal clause with διὰ τὸ καταβεβηκέναι ἐπ' αὐτὸ τὸν θεὸν ("because God had come down upon it"), using τὸν θεὸν ("God") where the Hebrew has Yehovah (H3068G), the personal divine name. The LXX also describes the people's reaction — ἐξέστη πᾶς ὁ λαὸς σφόδρα ("all the people were greatly amazed") — where the Hebrew states that kol ha.Har ("all the mountain") trembled me.'Od ("exceedingly"); the subject of the final clause differs between "the mountain" (Hebrew, Vulgate: omnis mons terribilis, "the whole mountain was terrifying") and "the people" (LXX).