The Covenant Sealed

1And to Moses He said, “Come up to YHWH, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy from the elders of Israel, and worship from a distance. 2And Moses alone shall draw near to YHWH, and they shall not draw near, and the people shall not go up with him.”

3And Moses came and recounted to the people all the words of YHWH and all the ordinances. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that YHWH has spoken, we will do.”

4And Moses wrote all the words of YHWH.

And he rose early in the morning and built an altar at the base of the mountain, and two and ten pillars, according to the two and ten tribes of Israel. 5And he sent young men of the sons of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed sacrifices of peace to YHWH, young bulls.

6And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and half the blood he sprinkled on the altar. 7And he took the Book of the Covenant and read it aloud in the ears of the people. And they said, “All that YHWH has spoken we will do, and we will listen.”

8And Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and he said, “Behold, the blood of the covenant which YHWH has cut with you⁺ according to all these words.†”

9And Moses went up, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy from the elders of Israel, 10and they saw the God of Israel, and under His feet was like the work of a pavement of sapphire, and like the substance of the heavens for purity. 11And on the nobles of the sons of Israel He did not stretch out His hand; and they saw God, and they ate and they drank.

Moses on the Mountain

12And YHWH said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain, and be there, and I will give to you the tablets of stone, and the law, and the command that I have written, that you may teach them.”

13And Moses arose, and Joshua his assistant, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. 14And to the elders he said, “Remain for us in this place, until that we return to you⁺. And behold, Aaron and Hur are with you⁺. Whoever is a master of words shall come near to them.”

15And Moses went up to the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16And the glory of YHWH dwelt on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And He called to Moses on the seventh day from the midst of the cloud. 17And the sight of the glory of YHWH was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the sons of Israel.

18And Moses entered into the midst of the cloud, and he went up to the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.