What Does Exodus 20:18 Mean in the King James?
And all the people saw the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the noise of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking: and when the people saw it, they removed, and stood afar off.
The analysis reads the King James wording.
King James Version The King James Version, first published in 1611. Selah Verse shows the standard text.
THE KEY
The Hebrew calls the thunder “voices,” so sound and trumpet-noise belong to one field of force in this encounter.
THE MEANING
You meet the overwhelming as sound made visible: thunderings, lightning, trumpet, smoke. Your senses do not stay neatly separate from the encounter; you recoil, then hold yourself at a distance.
WHAT THIS UNDOES
It dissolves the belief that an encounter with God must feel soothing or draw you close; here the people recoil and keep their distance.
THE ROOT
הַקֹּלֹת
haqqolot
GROWS FROM
ק־ו־ל
Voice, sound, call; the audible force named as thunder here.
הַקֹּלֹת (haqqolot, “the voices/sounds”) is the plural of קוֹל (qol, “voice/sound”). The verse uses that same word in קוֹל הַשֹּׁפָר (qol ha-shofar, “the sound of the trumpet”), joining the thunderings and trumpet-noise in one field of voiced force.
ALSO GROWS
qol: Voice; sound.
קוֹל
The singular form appears again for the trumpet’s “noise,” connecting its sound to the thunderings.
qol ha-shofar: The voice or sound of the shofar (trumpet).
קוֹל הַשֹּׁפָר
This phrase uses the same word as “thunderings,” letting thunder and trumpet sound share the same Hebrew language of voice.
THE PATTERN
Scripture lets divine voice cross the boundary between speech and natural force.
And it came to pass on the third day in the morning, that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mount, and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled.The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters.The people therefore, that stood by, and heard it, said that it thundered: others said, An angel spake to him.THE THREAD
The voice of the LORD is upon the waters: the God of glory thundereth: the LORD is upon many waters.Psalm 29:3 places the LORD’s voice alongside thunder, echoing the Hebrew root ק־ו־ל (q-w-l, “voice/sound”) behind “thunderings” and “trumpet noise” here. Voice arrives as force in the created world, not only as speech.
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