God Makes a Covenant with Israel

24 The Lord told Moses, “You, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel must come up to me and ·worship [bow down to] me from a distance. ² Then Moses alone must come near me; the others must not come near. The rest of the people must not come up the mountain with Moses.”

³ Moses ·told [^Lwent and recounted to] the people all the Lord’s words and ·laws for living [regulations; judgments]. Then all of the people answered out loud together, “We will do all the things the Lord has said.” ⁴ So Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. And he got up early the next morning and built an altar near the bottom of the mountain. He set up twelve ·stones [^Lpillars], one ·stone [pillar] for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵ Then Moses sent ·young Israelite men [^Lyouth of the sons/^Tchildren of Israel] to offer whole burnt offerings and to sacrifice young bulls as ·fellowship [or peace; Lev. 3] offerings to the Lord. ⁶ Moses put half of the blood of these animals in ·bowls [basins], and he ·sprinkled [or dashed] the other half of the blood on the altar. ⁷ Then he took the Book of the ·Agreement [Covenant; Treaty ^Creferring to the laws found in 20:2–23:19] and read it so the people could hear him. And they said, “We will do everything that the Lord has said; we will obey.”

⁸ Then Moses took ·the blood from the bowls [^Lthe blood] and ·sprinkled [dashed] it on the people, saying, “This is the blood ·that begins [^Lof] the ·Agreement [Covenant; Treaty], the ·Agreement [Covenant; Treaty] which the Lord ·has made [^Lcut] with you ·about [or in accord with] all these words.”

⁹ Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up the mountain ¹⁰ and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was a ·surface [pavement] that looked as if it were paved with blue sapphire stones, and it was as clear as the ·sky [heavens]! ¹¹ These ·leaders of the Israelites [^Leminent men of the sons/^Tchildren of Israel] saw God, but ·God did not destroy them [^Lhe did not send out his hand]. Then they ate and drank together [^Cmeals often sealed covenant/treaty agreements].

God Promises Moses the Stone Tablets

¹² The Lord said to Moses, “Come up the mountain to me. Wait there, and I will give you two stone tablets [^Cperhaps two copies of the Ten Commandments]. On these are the ·teachings [laws; instructions] and the commands I have written to instruct the people.”

¹³ So Moses and his ·helper [assistant] Joshua ·set out [^Lgot up], and Moses went up to ·Sinai, the mountain of God [^Lthe mountain of God]. ¹⁴ Moses said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone who ·has a disagreement with others [has many words/a dispute; ^Lis a master of words] can take it to them.”

Moses Meets with God

¹⁵ When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud [^Crepresenting God’s presence] covered it. ¹⁶ The glory of the Lord [^Crepresenting his manifest presence] ·came down [^Lsettled] on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from inside the cloud. ¹⁷ To the ·Israelites [^Lsons/^Tchildren of Israel] the glory of the Lord looked like a fire burning on top of the mountain. ¹⁸ Then Moses went into the cloud and went higher up the mountain. He was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.