1 He said to Moses, “Come up to the LORD, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, and bow down from a distance. 2 Moses alone shall draw near to the LORD; the others shall not draw near, and the people shall not go up with him.” 3 Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances. All the people answered with one voice, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.” 4 Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, and twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 He sent young men of the Israelites, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as peace offerings to the LORD. 6 Moses took half the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he dashed against the altar. 7 He took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. They said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will obey.” 8 Moses took the blood and dashed it on the people, saying, “Look, this is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you in accordance with all these words.” 9 Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself. 11 Yet he did not stretch out his hand against the nobles of the Israelites. They beheld God, and they ate and drank.

12 The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the stone tablets, the law and the commandment that I have written to instruct them.” 13 Moses rose with Joshua his assistant, and Moses went up to the mountain of God. 14 He had said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. Look, Aaron and Hur are with you; let anyone who has a dispute go to them.” 15 Moses went up the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16 The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. On the seventh day he called to Moses from the midst of the cloud. 17 The appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the mountaintop in the sight of the Israelites. 18 Moses entered the cloud and went up the mountain. Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.