(14) Moses came down from the mountain to the people and warned the people to stay pure, and they washed their clothes. (15) And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day: do not go near a woman.” (16) On the third day, as morning dawned, there was thunder, and lightning, and a dense cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud blast of the horn; and all the people who were in the camp trembled. (17) Moses led the people out of the camp toward God, and they took their places at the foot of the mountain. (18) Now Mount Sinai was all in smoke, for the LORD had come down upon it in fire; the smoke rose like the smoke of a kiln, and the whole mountain trembled violently. (19) The blare of the horn grew louder and louder. As Moses spoke, God answered him in thunder. (20) The LORD came down upon Mount Sinai, on the top of the mountain, and the LORD called Moses to the top of the mountain and Moses went up. (21) The LORD said to Moses, “Go down, warn the people not to break through to the LORD to gaze, lest many of them perish. (22) The priests also, who come near the LORD, must stay pure, lest the LORD break out against them.” (23) But Moses said to the LORD, “The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai, for You warned us saying, ‘Set bounds about the mountain and sanctify it.’” (24) So the LORD said to him, “Go down, and come back together with Aaron; but let not the priests or the people break through to come up to the LORD, lest the Lord break out against them.” (25) And Moses went down to the people and spoke to them. (1) God spoke all these words, saying: (2) I the LORD am your God who brought you out of the land of Egypt, the house of bondage: (3) You shall have no other gods besides Me. (4) You shall not make for yourself a sculptured image, or any likeness of what is in the heavens above, or on the earth below, or in the waters under the earth. (5) You shall not bow down to them or serve them. For I the LORD your God am an impassioned God, visiting the guilt of the parents upon the children, upon the third and upon the fourth generations of those who reject Me, (6) but showing kindness to the thousandth generation of those who love Me and keep My commandments. (7) You shall not swear falsely by the name of the LORD your God; for the LORD will not clear one who swears falsely by God's name. (8) Remember the sabbath day and keep it holy. (9) Six days you shall labor and do all your work, (10) but the seventh day is a sabbath of the LORD your God: you shall not do any work—you, your son or daughter, your male or female slave, or your cattle, or the stranger who is within your settlements. (11) For in six days the LORD made heaven and earth and sea, and all that is in them, and God rested on the seventh day; therefore the LORD blessed the sabbath day and hallowed it. (12) Honor your father and your mother, that you may long endure on the land that the LORD your God is assigning to you. (13) You shall not murder. You shall not commit adultery. You shall not steal. You shall not bear false witness against your neighbor. (14) You shall not covet your neighbor’s house: you shall not covet your neighbor’s wife, or their male or female slave, or their ox or their ass, or anything that is your neighbor’s. (15) All the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the blare of the horn and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they fell back and stood at a distance. (16) “You speak to us,” they said to Moses, “and we will obey; but let not God speak to us, lest we die.” (17) Moses answered the people, “Be not afraid; for God has come only in order to test you, and in order that the fear of God may be ever with you, so that you do not go astray.” (18) So the people remained at a distance, while Moses approached the thick cloud where God was. (19) The LORD said to Moses: Thus shall you say to the Israelites: You yourselves saw that I spoke to you from the very heavens: (20) With Me, therefore, you shall not make any gods of silver, nor shall you make for yourselves any gods of gold.
With regard to the revelation at Sinai, Rabbi Yoḥanan said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “The Lord gives the word; the women that proclaim the tidings are a great host” (Psalms 68:12)? It means that each and every utterance that emerged from the mouth of the Almighty divided into seventy languages, a great host. And, similarly, the school of Rabbi Yishmael taught with regard to the verse: “Behold, is My word not like fire, declares the Lord, and like a hammer that shatters a rock?” (Jeremiah 23:29). Just as this hammer breaks a stone into several fragments, so too, each and every utterance that emerged from the mouth of the Holy Blessed One divided into seventy languages. The Gemara continues in praise of the Torah. Rav Ḥananel bar Pappa said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “Listen, for I will speak royal things, and my lips will open with upright statements” (Proverbs 8:6)? Why are matters of Torah likened to a king? To teach you that just as this king has the power to kill and to grant life, so too, matters of Torah have the power to kill and to grant life.
And Rabbi Yehoshua ben Levi said: What is the meaning of that which is written: “His cheeks are as a bed of spices, as banks of sweet herbs, his lips are lilies dripping with flowing myrrh” (Song of Songs 5:13)? It is interpreted homiletically: From each and every utterance that emerged from His cheeks, i.e., the mouth of the Holy Blessed One the entire world was filled with fragrant spices. And since the world was already filled by the first utterance, where was there room for the spices of the second utterance to go? The Holy Blessed One brought forth wind from God's treasuries and made the spices pass one at a time, leaving room for the consequences of the next utterance. As it is stated: “His lips are lilies [shoshanim] dripping with flowing myrrh.” Each and every utterance resulted in flowing myrrh. Do not read the word in the verse as shoshanim; rather, read it as sheshonim, meaning repeat. Each repeat utterance produced its own fragrance.
The voice of the first (commandment) went forth, and the heavens and earth quaked there at, and the waters and rivers fled, and the mountains and hills were moved, and all the trees fell prostrate, and the dead who were in Sheol revived, and stood on their feet till the end of all the generations, as it is said, "But with them that standeth here with us this day" (Deut. 29:15), and those (also) who in the future will be created, until the end of all the generations, there they stood with them at Mount Sinai, as it is said, "And also with them that are not here with us this day" (ibid.). The Israelites who were alive (then) fell upon their faces and died.
The voice of the second (commandment) went forth, and they were quickened, and they stood upon their feet and said to Moses: Moses, our teacher! We are unable to hear any more the voice of the Holy Blessed One, for we shall die even as we died (just now), as it is said, "And they said unto Moses, Speak thou with us, and we will hear: but let not God speak with us, lest we die" (Ex. 20:19). And now, why should we die as we died (just now)? The Holy Blessed One, heard the voice of Israel, and it was pleasing to God, and God sent for Michael || and Gabriel, and they took hold of the two hands of Moses against his will, and they brought him near unto the thick darkness, as it is said, "And Moses drew near unto the thick darkness where God was" (Ex. 20:21).
And it came to pass, "When ye hear the sound of the trumpet" (2 Sam. 15:10). Why did the Holy Blessed One, cause God's voice to be heard out of the midst of the darkness, and not out of the midst of the light? A parable: to what is the matter to be likened? To a king who was having his son married to a woman, and he suspended in the wedding chamber of his son black curtains, and not white curtains. He said to them: I know that my son will not remain with his wife except for forty days; so that on the morrow they should not say the king was an astrologer, but he did not know what would happen to his son. So with the King, who is the Holy Blessed One, and God's son is Israel, and the bride is the Torah. The Holy Blessed One, knew that Israel would not remain (loyal) to the commandments except for forty days, therefore the Holy Blessed One, caused them to hear God's voice out of the midst of darkness, and not out of the midst of light, therefore it is said, "And it came to pass, when ye heard the voice" (Deut. 5:28).
Rabbi Jehudah said: When a person speaks with a companion, they hear the sound of their voice, but they do not see any light with it; the Israelites heard the voice of the Holy Blessed One, on Mount Sinai, and saw the voice going forth from the mouth of the Almighty in the lightning and the thunder, as it is said, "And all the people saw the thunderings and the lightnings" (Ex. 20:18). All the precepts which are in the Torah number 611, and two, which the Holy Blessed One spake, as it is said, "God has spoken once, two have I heard thus" (Ps. 62:11).
Rabbi Phineas said: All that generation who heard the voice of the Holy Blessed One, on Mount Sinai, were worthy to be like the ministering angels, so that insects had no power over them. They did not experience pollution in their lifetime, and at their death neither worm nor insect prevailed over them. Happy were they in this world and happy will they be in the world to come, and concerning them the Scripture says, "Happy is the people, that is in such a case" (Ps. 144:15).
והנה אם היה האדם זוכר ומשגיח בשעת לימוד התורה, איך הוא מדבר אותיות התורה שבהם נברא העולם והוא בעצמו היה מתדבק בדברי אותיותיו אל שרשו אותיות התורה שנתנה בזה העולם בקולות וברקים, למען תהיה יראת ה' על פניו לבלתי יחטא כמבואר בפ'. וממילא היה היראה והפחד נופל עליו ובקולות וברקים עליו יופיע שלא יחטא ח"ו, כי איך הוא האפשרות הענין לחטוא בהנה.
And so a person [must] remember [this] and take care during their learning the Torah how they speak the letters of the Torah, for with them was the world created, and by one's self attach the letters to their root letters in the Torah, which was given like this to the world through 'thunder and lightning' in order that 'the fear of God should be upon you and you will be without sin', as explained. In any case, if 'awe' and 'fear' befall a person in 'thunder and lightning', its seems apparent that they would not sin, God forbid. For how could there be the possibility of sin with all that?