1 Then he said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and ^gseventy of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar. 2 Moses alone shall come near to the Lord, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”

3 Moses came and told the people ^hall the words of the Lord and ⁱall the rules.¹ And all the people answered with one voice and said, ^j“All the words that the Lord has spoken we will do.” 4 And Moses ^kwrote down all the words of the Lord. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and ^ltwelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. 6 And ^mMoses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he ⁿthrew against the altar. 7 Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient.” 8 And Moses took the blood and ^othrew it on the people and said, “Behold the ^pblood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”

9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they ^qsaw the God of Israel. There was under his feet as it were a pavement of ^rsapphire stone, like the very heaven for clearness. 11 And he did not lay his hand on the chief men of the people of Israel; they beheld God, and ate and drank.

12 The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and wait there, that I may give you the ^stablets of stone, with the law and the commandment, which I have written for their instruction.” 13 So Moses rose with his assistant Joshua, and Moses ^twent up into the ^umountain of God. 14 And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever has a dispute, let him go to them.”

15 Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the ^vcloud covered the mountain. 16 ^wThe glory of the Lord ^xdwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. 17 Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a ^ydevouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the people of Israel. 18 Moses entered the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain ^zforty days and forty nights.