People Affirm Their Covenant with God

24 Then He said to Moses, “^(A)Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, ^(B)Nadab and Abihu, and ^(C)seventy of the elders of Israel, and you shall worship at a distance. ² Moses alone, however, shall approach the Lord, but they shall not approach, nor shall the people come up with him.”

³ Then Moses came and reported to the people all the words of the Lord and all the ^[a]ordinances; and all the people answered with one voice and said, “^(D)All the words which the Lord has spoken we will do!” ⁴ And ^(E)Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Then he got up early in the morning, and built an ^(F)altar ^[b]at the foot of the mountain with twelve memorial stones for the twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵ And he sent young men of the sons of Israel, ^(G)and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed bulls as peace offerings to the Lord. ^6 (H)Moses took half of the blood and put it in basins, and the other half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar. ⁷ Then he took ^(I)the Book of the Covenant and read it ^[c]as the people listened; and they said, “^(J)All that the Lord has spoken we will do, and we will be obedient!” ⁸ So ^(K)Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Behold ^(L)the blood of the covenant, which the Lord has ^[d]made with you ^[e]in accordance with all these words.”

⁹ Then Moses went up ^[f]with Aaron, ^(M)Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel, ¹⁰ and ^(N)they saw the God of Israel; and under His feet ^[g](O)there appeared to be a pavement of sapphire, ^[h]as clear as the sky itself. ¹¹ Yet He did not reach out with His hand against the nobles of the sons of Israel; and ^(P)they saw God, and they ate and drank.

¹² Now the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and ^[i]stay there, and ^(Q)I will give you the stone tablets ^[j]with the Law and the ^[k]commandments which I have written for their instruction.” ¹³ So Moses got up ^[l]along with ^(R)Joshua his ^[m]servant, and Moses went up to ^(S)the mountain of God. ¹⁴ But to the elders he said, “^(T)Wait here for us until we return to you. And behold, ^(U)Aaron and Hur are with you; whoever ^[n]has a legal matter, have him approach them.” ¹⁵ Then Moses went up to the mountain, and ^(V)the cloud covered the mountain. ^16 (W)The glory of the Lord ^[o]settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days; and on the seventh day He ^(X)called to Moses from the midst of the cloud. ^17 (Y)And to the eyes of the sons of Israel, the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a ^(Z)consuming fire on the mountain top. ¹⁸ Then Moses entered the midst of the cloud ^[p]as he went up to the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain for ^(AA)forty days and forty nights.