The LORD spoke with you face to face: the sense of face to face is “The LORD spoke to you personally [or, in person].”

At the mountain, out of the midst of the fire: that is, “from the fire on the mountain”; see 4.12, 15.

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 .