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Field Notes: Mount Sinai/Horeb

  • Sinai – the specific peak, name mostly used in Exodus and Numbers
  • Horeb – used more broadly for the mountain region where Sinai is located, especially in Deuteronomy when Moses retells the story

Mount Sinai is the mountain where Moses received the Law and the Ten Commandments from God (Exodus 19-20). The mountain is sometimes called Horeb in Scripture, and the two names generally refer to the same mountain or the surrounding mountain region.

A view of Mount Sinai in Egypt from the southwest; traditionally identified as the place where Moses received the Ten Commandments
Photo: Gerd Eichmann – Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)