Exodus 19:10
And he said to him: Go to the people, and sanctify them today, and tomorrow, and let them wash their garments.
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- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Qui dixit ei : Vade ad populum, et sanctifica illos hodie, et cras, laventque vestimenta sua.
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Εἶπεν δὲ Κύριος πρὸς Μωυσῆν Καταβὰς διαμάρτυραι τῷ λαῷ, καὶ ἅγνισον αὐτοὺς σήμερον καὶ αὔριον· καὶ πλυνάτωσαν τὰ ἱμάτια,
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיֹּ֨אמֶר יְהוָ֤ה אֶל מֹשֶׁה֙ לֵ֣ךְ אֶל הָעָ֔ם וְקִדַּשְׁתָּ֥ם הַיּ֖וֹם וּמָחָ֑ר וְכִבְּס֖וּ שִׂמְלֹתָֽם
Haydock's commentary
Garments, with their bodies, as the Jews understand by this expression. They were also to abstain from their wives, &c. By which exterior practices, they were admonished of the interior purity which God required. All nations seem to have adopted similar observances of continence, washing themselves, and putting on their best attire, when they appeared before God. See Herodotus, &c. (Calmet)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Cyprian Three Books of Testimonies Against the Jews, That He should rise again from the dead on the third day
In Hosea: “After two days He will revive us; we shall rise again on the third day.” Also in Exodus: “And the Lord said unto Moses, Go down and testify to the people, and sanctify them to-day and to-morrow; and let them wash their garments, and let them be prepared against the day after to-morrow. For on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai.” Also in the Gospel: “A wicked and adulterous generation seeketh after a sign; and there shall no sign be given unto it but the sign of the prophet Jonas: for as Jonas was in the whale’s belly three days and three nights, so shall the Son of man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth.”
St Augustine Letter LV
30. Read the book of Exodus, and observe the number of days between the first passover and the giving of the Law. God speaks to Moses in the desert of Sinai on the first day of the third month. Mark, then, this as one day of the month, and then observe what (among other things) the Lord said on that day: “Go unto the people, and sanctify them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes, and be ready against the third day; for the third day the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people upon Mount Sinai.” The Law was accordingly given on the third day of the month. Now reckon the days between the 14th day of the first month, the day of the passover, and the 3d day of the third month, and you have 17 days of the first month, 30 of the second, and 3 of the third, 50 in all. …
St John Chrysostom Homilies on First Corinthians, Homily IX
Well: I know that a chill comes over you ( ναρκᾶτε ) on hearing these things; but what am I to do? For this is God’s own command, continually to sound these things in your ears, where He says, “Charge this people; (Fors. Exod. xix. 10, 20 . διαμαρτύραι , Sept. here διάστειλαι ,) and ordained as we have been unto the ministry of the word, we must give pain to our hearers, not willingly but on compulsion. Nay rather, if you will, we shall avoid giving you pain. For saith He, ( Rom. xiii. 3 , in substance.) “if thou do that which is good, fear not:” so that it is possible for you to hear me not only without ill-will, but even with pleasure.
St Gregory Nazianzen On the Death of His Father
13. After a short interval, wonder succeeded wonder. I will commend the account of it to the ears of the faithful, for to profane minds nothing that is good is trustworthy. He was approaching that regeneration by water and the Spirit, by which we confess to God the formation and completion of the Christlike man, and the transformation and reformation from the earthy to the Spirit. He was approaching the laver with warm desire and bright hope, after all the purgation possible, and a far greater purification of soul and body than that of the men who were to receive the tables from Moses. Their purification extended only to their dress, and a slight restriction of the belly, and a temporary continence. …
St Ambrose On the Duties of the Clergy, Chapter L. The Levites ought to be utterly free from all earthly desires. What their virtues should be on the Apostle's own showing, and how great their purity must be. Also what their dignity and duty is, for the carrying out of which the chief virtues are necessary. He states that these were not unknown to the philosophers, but that they erred in their order. Some are by their nature in accordance with duty, which yet on account of what accompanies them become contrary to duty. From whence he gathers what gifts the office of the Levites demands. To conclude, he adds an exposition of Moses' words when blessing the tribe of Levi
258. But ye know that the ministerial office must be kept pure and unspotted, and must not be defiled by conjugal intercourse; ye know this, I say, who have received the gifts of the sacred ministry, with pure bodies, and unspoilt modesty, and without ever having enjoyed conjugal intercourse. I am mentioning this, because in some out-of-the-way places, when they enter on the ministry, or even when they become priests, they have begotten children. They defend this on the ground of old custom, when, as it happened, the sacrifice was offered up at long intervals. However, even the people had to be purified two or three days beforehand, so as to come clean to the sacrifice, as we read in the Old Testament. They even used to wash their clothes. …