Exodus 19:13

19:13 No hand will touch him ¹  – but he will surely be stoned or shot through, whether a beast or a human being; ²  he must not live.’ When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast they may ³  go up on the mountain.”

Exodus 22:9

22:9 In all cases of illegal possessions, ⁴  whether for an ox, a donkey, a sheep, a garment, or any kind of lost item, about which someone says ‘This belongs to me,’ ⁵  the matter of the two of them will come before the judges, ⁶  and the one whom ⁷  the judges declare guilty ⁸  must repay double to his neighbor.

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¹ sn There is some ambiguity here. The clause either means that no man will touch the mountain, so that if there is someone who is to be put to death he must be stoned or shot since they could not go into the mountain region to get him, or, it may mean no one is to touch the culprit who went in to the region of the mountain.

² tn Heb “a man.”

³ tn The nuance here is permissive imperfect, “they may go up.” The ram’s horn would sound the blast to announce that the revelation period was over and it was permitted then to ascend the mountain.

⁴ tn Heb “concerning every kind [thing] of trespass.”

⁵ tn The text simply has “this is it” (הוּא זֶה, hu’ zeh).

⁶ tn Again, or “God.”

⁷ tn This kind of clause Gesenius calls an independent relative clause – it does not depend on a governing substantive but itself expresses a substantival idea (GKC 445-46 §138.e).

⁸ tn The verb means “to be guilty” in Qal; in Hiphil it would have a declarative sense, because a causative sense would not possibly fit.