SINAI.
Reading edition
The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; He shined forth from Mount Paran, and He came with ten thousands of saints: from His right hand went a fiery law.—Deuteronomy, xxxiii. 2.
The mountains melted from before the Lord, even that Sinai from before the Lord God of Israel.—Judges, v. 5.
God from the Mount of Sinai, whose grey top Shall tremble, He descending, will himself, In thunder, lightning, and loud tempest’s sound, Ordain them laws; part such as appertain To civil justice, part religious rites Of sacrifice, informing them by types And shadows, of that destined Seed to bruise The serpent, by what means He shall achieve Mankind’s deliverance. But the voice of God To mortal ear is dreadful! They beseech That Moses might repeat to them His will, And terror cease. He grants what they besought, Instructed that to God is no access Without Mediator, whose high office now Moses in figure bears, to introduce One greater, of whose day he shall foretell. Milton.
The mountain rocked round Sinai’s trembling sides; In gloomy spires the dreadful smoke arose; Angelic trumpets pierced the ethereal vault; Wide-echoing thunder rent the conscious air; Fierce lightning shot its terrors through the sky; All nature spake, and with convulsive shock Gave awful proof of the descending God. Samuel Hayes.
Those laws which from Mount Sinai Jehovah, clothed with terrors, while thick clouds And darkness wrapt him round, pronounced, in sounds Which chilled the hearts of those who heard, and froze Their very blood. Beneath His awful feet Earth trembled, and the lofty mountain shook; Hoarse thunder growled, and livid lightnings flashed, While sounds of horror and distress amid The howling wilderness were heard. William Hodson.