VBM The Beit Ha-mikdash and the Beit Ha-midrash By Harav Mosheh Lichtenstein

Thunder and lightning and a heavy cloud And all the people perceived the thunderings, and the lightnings, and the voice of the horn, and the mountain smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled, and stood afar off. And they said to Moshe: Speak you with us, and we will hear; but let not God speak with us, lest we die. (Shemot 20:15-16) The people of Israel were standing before Mount Sinai, afraid that they would die. It was a frightening situation with thunder, lightning and a heavy cloud, and the people of Israel were terrified: And Moshe brought forth the people out of the camp to meet God; and they stood at the nether part of the mount. Now Mount Sinai was altogether on smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire; and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the horn waxed louder and louder, Moshe spoke, and God answered him by a voice. (Shemot 19:17-19)