This verse seems to contradict verse 24, but in fact verse 24 provides only a rare exception to the rule. Moses and the other Israelites did in fact survive, after Yahweh had spoken to them on that occasion, but normally people could hardly hope to escape death.

Who is there of all flesh: the literal translation of the Hebrew is not normal English idiom; Good News Translation is better, “Has any human being….” The Hebrew phrase translated all flesh means here the entire human race, all humanity (in some other contexts it means all living creatures). Another possible translation is “Was there ever any person who…?” New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “What mortal…?”

The form of the Hebrew is a rhetorical question, whose expected answer is negative, “No one.” It may be better in some languages to use a direct emphatic statement: “Nobody ever … and has survived,” “There has never been a person who … and has survived.”

The living God: this title contrasts Yahweh with the gods of other peoples, gods who were powerless, dead, lifeless idols. A translation may bring this out by translating “The only living God.” This contrasts well with human “flesh,” mortal humankind.

As we have indicates that the elders are saying that they and the other Israelites are the only people in the world who have ever heard God speak and survived. They are the exception to the rule, but they don’t want to go through the experience again.

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .