Discovery BoxExodus 19:21-22 
Context19:21 The Lord said to Moses, “Go down and solemnly warn 1 the people, lest they force their way through to the Lord to look, and many of them perish. 2 19:22 Let the priests also, who approach the Lord, sanctify themselves, lest the Lord break through 3 against them.”
1 tn The imperative הָעֵד (ha’ed) means “charge” them – put them under oath, or solemnly warn them. God wished to ensure that the people would not force their way past the barriers that had been set out.
2 tn Heb “and fall”; NAB “be struck down.”
3 tn The verb יִפְרֹץ (yifrots) is the imperfect tense from פָּרַץ (parats, “to make a breach, to break through”). The image of Yahweh breaking forth on them means “work destruction” (see 2 Sam 6:8; S. R. Driver, Exodus, 174).
