Sinai
A place in the Bible
The mountain where God spoke to Moses and gave him the Ten Commandments. The Bible also calls it Horeb, “the mountain of God.”
What happened here
- The bush: Moses came with the sheep to Horeb. There the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire, in the middle of a bush that was burning but was not consumed.
- The people: in the third month after leaving Egypt, the Israelites camped in front of Mount Sinai.
- The commandments: the Lord came down to the top of the mountain and called Moses. There he gave him the Ten Commandments on the tablets of the Law.
- Elijah: centuries later, the prophet walked forty days and forty nights to Horeb, the mountain of God.
Today
No one knows for sure which mountain it is. Since the fourth century, tradition has placed it at Jebel Musa, in the Sinai Peninsula (Egypt). At its foot is the Monastery of Saint Catherine.
Where it appears in the Bible
Exodus 19:20; Exodus 3:1-2; Exodus 19:1-2; Exodus 34:28-29; 1 Kings 19:8
What the Bible says
Exodus 19:20
And the Lord came down upon mount Sinai, in the very top of the mount, and he called Moses unto the top thereof. And when he was gone up thither,
Exodus 3:1-2
1Now Moses fed the sheep of Jethro his father in law, the priest of Madian: and he drove the flock to the inner parts of the desert, and came to the mountain of God, Horeb. 2And the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush: and he saw that the bush was on fire and was not burnt.
Exodus 19:1-2
1In the third month of the departure of Israel out of the land of Egypt, on this day they came into the wilderness of Sinai: 2For departing out of Raphidim, and coming to the desert of Sinai, they camped in the same place, and there Israel pitched their tents over against the mountain.
Douay-Rheims Bible (Challoner revision), public domain.
Source: Catholic Encyclopedia (1913), “Sinai”; Easton’s Bible Dictionary (1897), “Sinai”; UNESCO, “Saint Catherine Area”