1He said to Moses, “Come up to Yahweh, you, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship from a distance.”
2Moses alone is to come near to Yahweh, but the others must not come near. The people must not come up with him.”
3Moses went and told the people all of Yahweh’s words and all of his rules. All the people answered together, “We will do everything that Yahweh has said.”
4Moses wrote down all of Yahweh’s words. Early in the morning, he built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel.
5He sent young men from the Israelites, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as peace offerings to Yahweh.
6Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and poured the other half of the blood on the altar.
7He took the book of the covenant and read it aloud to the people, and they said, “We will do everything Yahweh has said, and we will obey.”
8Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Look, this is the blood of the covenant that Yahweh has made with you based on all these words.”
9Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up.
10They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.
11He did not harm the leaders of the Israelites. They saw God, and they ate and drank.
12Yahweh said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay there. I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commands that I have written, so you can teach them.”
13Moses and his assistant Joshua set out, and Moses went up onto God’s Mountain.
14He told the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, so anyone who has a problem can go to them.”
15Moses went up the mountain, and a cloud covered it.
16Yahweh’s glory settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day, he called to Moses from the middle of the cloud.
17The Israelites saw Yahweh’s glory on top of the mountain, and it looked like a raging fire.
18Moses went into the middle of the cloud and climbed the mountain; Moses stayed on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.