Exodus 20:21

Summary

The verse describes the people remaining at a distance while Moses alone approaches the thick darkness where God is. It contrasts the position of the people with that of Moses through two parallel verbal clauses.

Key words

• va-ya'amod ("and it stood", H5975G) — qal narrative verb, third person masculine, advancing the story: the people's action of standing/remaining is presented as a completed narrative event.
• ha'am ("the people", H5971A) — masculine singular noun with definite article, the collective subject of the first clause.
• rachok ("a distance", H7350) — masculine singular adjective used adverbially with the preposition me ("from", H9006), indicating spatial separation.
• niggash ("he drew near", H5066G) — niphal perfect verb, third person masculine singular. The niphal stem here carries a reflexive/middle sense ("he brought himself near"), distinct from the qal verb used for the people's action.
• ha'arafel ("the thick darkness", H6205) — masculine singular noun with definite article, naming the location Moses approaches.

What the text says

The verse is built on two parallel clauses joined by the conjunction u ("and", H9002). The first clause uses va-ya'amod ("and it stood", H5975G), a qal verb in the narrative form, with ha'am ("the people", H5971A) as subject, followed by me-rachok ("from a distance", H9006 + H7350) describing their position. The second clause shifts the subject to Mosheh ("Moses", H4872) and uses a different stem: niggash ("he drew near", H5066G), a niphal perfect. The alternation between qal (for the people) and niphal (for Moses) marks a grammatical distinction between the two subjects' actions, though both describe physical movement or position relative to the same setting.

The destination of Moses' approach is introduced by 'el ("to", H0413) followed by ha'arafel ("the thick darkness", H6205), a term denoting dense cloud or darkness. This is further specified by the relative clause asher-sham ha'Elohim ("where God [was] there", H0834A + H8033G + H0430G), which locates Elohim ("God", H0430G) — a masculine plural noun functioning here as the subject of the clause — within the arafel. The relative particle asher combined with the adverb sham ("there", H8033G) creates a locative construction identifying the thick darkness as the place associated with the divine presence.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew arafel ("thick darkness", H6205) is rendered by the LXX as gnophon ("thick cloud/darkness") and by the Vulgate as caliginem ("darkness/mist"), both consistent with the Hebrew term's semantic range. The Hebrew verb niggash ("he drew near", niphal) is rendered by the LXX with eisēlthen ("he entered"), a verb of entry rather than mere approach, while the Vulgate uses accessit ("he approached"), closer to the Hebrew's sense of drawing near without specifying entry into the darkness.