The Covenant at Sinai

1 And He said to Moses, Come up before the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and you shall worship from a distance. 2 And Moses alone shall come near before the Lord, but they shall not come near, and the people shall not go up with them. 3 And Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the judgments; and all the people answered with one voice and said, All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do. 4 And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord. And he got up early in the morning, and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars, for the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent the firstborn sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed oxen as holy sacrifices before the Lord. 6 And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7 And he took the Book of the Covenant and read it before the people; and they said, All that the Lord has spoken we will do and obey. 8 And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the altar to make atonement for the people,⁠a and said, This is the Blood of the Covenant which the Lord has made with you concerning all these words. 9 And Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up. 10 And they saw the Glory of the God of Israel, and under the throne of His glory something like the work of a precious stone, and like the face of heaven in its clearness.⁠b 11 Yet the nobles of the sons of Israel were not harmed; and they saw the Glory of the Lord, and rejoiced in their sacrifices, which were accepted with favor, as though they had eaten and drunk.⁠c

Moses Ascends the Mountain

12 And the Lord said to Moses, Come up before Me on the mountain, and stay there, and I will give you the tablets of stone, and the law and the commandments, which I have written, so that you may teach them. 13 And Moses got up with Joshua his assistant, and Moses went up the mountain on which the Glory of the Lord was revealed. 14 But he said to the elders, Wait for us here until we come back to you: and look, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a matter for judgment, let him bring it before them. 15 And Moses went up the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain; 16 and the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses from the middle of the cloud. 17 And the appearance of the Glory of the Lord was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain before the eyes of the sons of Israel. 18 And Moses went into the middle of the cloud, and went up the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.