1 Then 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 at a distance.
2 Only Moses is to come near the LORD; the others must not come near, and the people must not go up with him."
3 Moses came and related to the people all the words of the LORD and all the judgments, and all the people answered with a single voice, "Everything the LORD has said, we will do."
4 Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. Early the next morning he built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve pillars, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel.
5 He sent young men of the children of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls to the LORD as peace offerings.
6 Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half of the blood he splashed on the altar.
7 Then he took the book of the covenant and read it aloud to the people, and they said, "Everything the LORD has said we will do, and we will obey."
8 Moses took the blood, splashed it on the people and said, "Here is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you on the terms of all these words."
9 Then 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 made of sapphire, as clear as the sky itself.
11 But he did not raise his hand against the leaders of the children of Israel; they saw 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 tablets of stone, the law and the commandment, which I have written to teach them."
13 So Moses got up, together with Joshua his assistant, and Moses went up the mountain of God.
14 He said to the elders, "Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute can go to them."
15 When Moses went up the mountain, the cloud covered the mountain.
16 The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and for six days the cloud covered it. On the seventh day he called to Moses from inside the cloud.
17 To the eyes of the children of Israel the glory of the LORD looked like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain.
18 Moses went into the cloud as he went up the mountain, and he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.