Exodus 24

The Covenant Confirmed

1Then the LORD 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. 2Moses alone shall come near to the LORD, but the others shall not come near, and the people shall not come up with him.”

3Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all the ordinances. And all the people answered with one voice and said, “All the words that the LORD has spoken we will do.” 4And 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, according to the twelve tribes of Israel. 5And he sent young men of the people of Israel, who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed offerings of well-being to the LORD, oxen.

6And Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and half of the blood he threw against the altar. 7Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people. And they said, “All that the LORD has spoken we will do, and we will hear.” 8And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people and said, “See—the blood of the covenant that the LORD has cut with you in accordance with all these words.”

On the Mountain with God

9Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up, 10and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet there was something like a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heavens for clearness. 11And he did not stretch out his hand against the chief men of the people of Israel; they saw God, and they ate and drank.

12The LORD said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and remain there, and I will give you the tablets of stone, with the instruction and the commandment that I have written for their teaching.” 13So Moses rose with Joshua his assistant, and Moses went up into the mountain of God. 14And he said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. See, Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever has a dispute may go to them.”

15Then Moses went up on the mountain, and the cloud covered the mountain. 16The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days; on the seventh day he called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

17Now the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the sons of Israel. 18Moses entered the midst of the cloud and went up on the mountain. And Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.