The Covenant Sealed

1And he said to Moses: Come up to the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab and Abiu, and seventy of the ancients of Israel, and you shall adore afar off. 2And Moses alone shall come up to the Lord, but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people come up with him.

3So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice: We will do all the words of the Lord, which he hath spoken. 4And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord: and rising in the morning, he built an altar at the foot of the mount, and twelve titles according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5And he sent young men of the children of Israel, and they offered holocausts, and sacrificed pacific victims of calves to the Lord. 6Then Moses took half of the blood, and put it into bowls; and the rest he poured upon the altar. 7And taking the book of the covenant, he read it in the hearing of the people: and they said: All things that the Lord hath spoken, we will do, we will be obedient. 8And he took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and he said: This is the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with you concerning all these words.

9Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abiu, and seventy of the ancients of Israel went up: 10And they saw the God of Israel: and under his feet as it were a work of sapphire stone, and as the heaven, when clear. 11Neither did he lay his hand upon those of the children of Israel, that retired afar off, and they saw God, and they did eat and drink.

Moses on the Mountain

12And the Lord said to Moses: Come up to me into the mount, and be there; and I will give thee tables of stone, and the law, and the commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them. 13Moses rose up, and his minister Josue: and Moses going up into the mount of God, 14Said to the ancients: Wait ye here till we return to you. You have Aaron and Hur with you: if any question shall arise, you shall refer it to them. 15And when Moses was gone up, a cloud covered the mount. 16And the glory of the Lord dwelt upon Sinai, covering it with a cloud six days: and the seventh day he called him out of the midst of the cloud. 17And the sight of the glory of the Lord, was like a burning fire upon the top of the mount, in the eyes of the children of Israel. 18And Moses entering into the midst of the cloud, went up into the mountain: And he was there forty days and forty nights.