Exodus

Rite of the Covenant

Then he said to Moses:

“Go up to the Lord, you, Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu with seventy of the elders of Israel, and let them worship from a distance.

Moses alone shall go forward to the Lord, but not the others, nor shall the people go up with him.”

Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all his laws. The people replied with one voice:

“Everything that the Lord has said, we shall do.”

Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord, then rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain with twelve raised stones for the twelve tribes of Israel.

He then sent young men from among the sons of Israel to offer burnt offerings and sacrifice bullocks as peace offerings to the Lord.

And Moses took half the blood and put it in basins, and with the other half of the blood, he sprinkled the altar.

He then took the Book of the Covenant and read it in the people’s hearing. They said:

“All that the Lord said we shall do and obey.”

Moses then took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, saying:

“Here is the blood of the Covenant that the Lord has made with you by all these words.”

Then Moses went up with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel.

They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was what seemed like a pavement of sapphire, clear as the sky itself.

And he did not lay a hand on these chosen Israelites. They looked at God and ate and drank.

The Lord said to Moses:

“Come up to me on the mountain and stay there. I will give you the tablets of stone, the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”

So Moses arose with his servant, Joshua, and before going up the mountain of God,

Moses said to the elders:

“Remain here until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you; let whoever has a dispute to settle go to them.”

When Moses went up the mountain, a cloud covered it.

The Glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day, He called to Moses from within the cloud.

The Glory of the Lord appeared like a consuming fire on the top of the mountain, as it appeared to the Israelites.

And Moses entered the cloud and went up the mountain and stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.