Exodus 24:2

Moses alone may come ¹  near the Lord, but the others ²  must not come near, ³  nor may the people go up with him.”

Ex 20:21; Ex 24:13,15,18; Nu 16:5; Jer 30:21; Jer 49:19; Heb 9:24; Heb 10:21,22

¹ tn The verb is a perfect tense with a vav (ו) consecutive; it and the preceding perfect tense follow the imperative, and so have either a force of instruction, or, as taken here, are the equivalent of an imperfect tense (of permission).

² tn Heb “they.”

³ tn Now the imperfect tense negated is used; here the prohibition would fit (“they will not come near”), or the obligatory (“they must not”) in which the subjects are obliged to act – or not act in this case.