King James Bible
"And the LORD said unto Moses, Go down, charge the people, lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze, and many of them perish."
God commands Moses to descend Mount Sinai and deliver a stern warning to the Israelites. This occurs during the theophany at Sinai, where God's presence has descended on the mountain in fire and smoke, requiring Moses to act as mediator between the holy God and the people. The concern is that curiosity might drive the people to force their way past the established boundaries around the mountain to see God directly. This reflects the ancient Near Eastern understanding that seeing deity face-to-face was fatal for mortals, emphasizing the vast gulf between divine holiness and human sinfulness. The consequence of unauthorized approach to God's manifest presence would be death. This underscores the life-threatening danger of God's unmediated holiness and establishes the principle that access to God must follow His prescribed means, not human initiative.