1The LORD said to Moses, "You and Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and 70 of Israel's leaders come up the mountain to me and worship at a distance. 2Moses may come near the LORD, but the others may not. The people must not come along with Moses."

3Moses went and told the people all the LORD's words and legal decisions. Then all the people answered with one voice, "We will do everything the LORD has told us to do." 4So Moses wrote down all the LORD's words. Early the next morning he built an altar at the foot of the mountain and [set up] 12 sacred stones for the 12 tribes of Israel. 5Then he sent young Israelite men, and they sacrificed bulls as burnt offerings and fellowship offerings to the LORD. 6Moses took half of the blood and put it into bowls, and he threw the other half against the altar. 7Then he took the Book of the LORD's Promise and read it while the people listened. They said, "We will obey and do everything the LORD has said." 8Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people and said, "Here is the blood which seals the promise that the LORD has made to you based on everything you have just heard."

9Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and 70 of Israel's leaders. 10They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made out of sapphire as clear and blue as the sky itself. 11God didn't harm these leaders of the Israelites. So they saw God, and then they ate and drank.

12The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain. Stay there, and I will give you the stone tablets with the teachings and the commandments I have written for the people's instruction." 13Moses set out with his assistant Joshua, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. 14He said to the leaders, "Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are here with you. Take all your disagreements to them." 15So Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered it. 16The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered it, and on the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from inside the cloud. 17To the Israelites, the glory of the LORD looked like a raging fire on top of the mountain. 18Moses entered the cloud as he went up the mountain. He stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights.