< Exodus 24 >
1 He said to Moses, "Come up to YHWH, you, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship from a distance.
2 Moses alone shall come near to God, but they shall not come near, neither shall the people go up with him."
3 Moses came and told the people all the words of God, and all the ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, "All the words which YHWH has spoken will we do."
4 Moses wrote all the words of YHWH, and rose up early in the morning, and built an altar under the mountain, and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel.
5 He sent young men of the children of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of cattle to God.
6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.
7 He took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people, and they said, "All that YHWH has spoken will we do, and be obedient."
8 Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, "This is the blood of the covenant, which God has commanded you concerning all these words."
9 Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up.
10 They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was like a paved work of sapphire stone, like the skies for clearness.
11 He did not lay his hand on the nobles of the children of Israel. They saw God, and ate and drank.
12 YHWH said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain, and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and the commands that I have written, that you may teach them."
13 Moses rose up with Joshua, his servant, and Moses went up onto God's Mountain.
14 He said to the elders, "Wait here for us, until we come again to you. Look, Aaron and Hur are with you. Whoever is involved in a dispute can go to them."
15 Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain.
16 The glory of God settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. The seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.
17 The appearance of the glory of YHWH was like devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel.
18 Moses entered into the midst of the cloud, and went up on the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.