People Affirm Their Covenant with God

1Then God said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu (Aaron’s older sons), and seventy of Israel’s elders, and you shall worship at a [safe] distance. 2Moses alone shall approach the LORD, but the others shall not come near, nor shall the people come up with him.”

3Then Moses came and told the people everything that the LORD had said and all the ordinances. And all the people answered with one voice, “Everything the LORD has said we will do.” 4Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. Then he got up early in the morning, and built an altar [for worship] at the foot of the mountain with twelve pillars (memorial stones) representing the twelve tribes of Israel. 5Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the LORD. 6Moses took half of the blood and put it in large basins, and [the other] half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it aloud to the people; and they said, “Everything that the LORD has said we will do, and we will be obedient.” 8So Moses took the blood [which had been placed in the large basins] and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

9Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up [the mountainside], 10and they saw [a manifestation of] the God of Israel; and under His feet there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, just as clear as the sky itself. 11Yet He did not stretch out His hand against the nobles of the Israelites; and they saw [the manifestation of the presence of] God, and ate and drank.

12Now the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and stay there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commandments which I have written for their instruction.” 13So Moses [a]arose with Joshua his attendant, and he went up to the mountain of God. 14And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Remember that Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a legal matter, let him go to them.” 15Then Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16The glory and brilliance of the LORD rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day God called to Moses from the midst of the cloud. 17In the sight of the Israelites the appearance of the glory and brilliance of the LORD was like consuming fire on the top of the mountain. 18Moses entered the midst of the cloud and went up the mountain; and he was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.