Exodus 20:20

And Moses said unto the people, Fear not; for in order to prove you, did God come, and in order that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.

Leeser Tanakh

In The King James Version

And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not.

In Context

19And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die.

21And the people stood afar off, and Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was.

Read all of Exodus 20

Cross References

Genesis 20:11And Abraham said, Because I thought, Surely there is no fear of God in this place, and they will slay me for the sake of my wife.

Genesis 22:12And he said, Lay not thy hand upon the lad, neither do thou the least unto him; for now I know that thou fearest God, seeing that thou hast not withheld thy son, thy only one, from me.

Deuteronomy 4:10The day that thou stoodest before the Lord thy God at Horeb, when the Lord said unto me, Assemble for me the people, and I will cause them to hear my words, which they shall learn, to fear me all the days that they shall live upon the earth, and which they shall teach their children.

Deuteronomy 8:2And thou shalt remember all the way which the Lord thy God hath led thee these forty years in the wilderness, in order to afflict thee, to prove thee, to know what is in thy heart, whether thou wouldst keep his commandments, or not.

Deuteronomy 10:12And now, Israel, what doth the Lord thy God require of thee, but to fear the Lord thy God, to walk in all his ways, and to love him, and to serve the Lord thy God with all thy heart and with all thy soul,

Joshua 24:14Now therefore fear the Lord, and serve him in sincerity and truth; and put away the gods which your fathers served on the other side of the river and in Egypt, and serve the Lord.

Matthew Henry on Exodus 20:19-22

Terror with Which the Law Was Given. ( b. c. 1491.) 18 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. 19 And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die. 20 And Moses said unto the people, Fear not: for God is come to prove you, and that his fear may be before your faces, that ye sin not. 21 And the people stood afar off, and… Read the whole commentary →

This Verse In Other Editions

Study Exodus 20:20