¹⁶ When the morning of the third day arrived, thunder cracked and lightning lit up the sky. A thick cloud veiled the mountain, and there was a long, loud blast of a ram’s horn. Every person in the camp trembled. ¹⁷ Moses led the anxious people away from camp to encounter God. Everyone waited at the base of the mountain. ¹⁸ Now Mount Sinai was covered in thick smoke because the Eternal descended on the mountain in fire; and the smoke of that fire rose up to the sky as if it were billowing out of a furnace, and the entire mountain shuddered and quaked intensely. ¹⁹ The blast of the ram’s horn grew louder and louder. Moses spoke, and God answered with a voice that rumbled like thunder.

²⁰ The Eternal descended to the summit of Mount Sinai. He called for Moses to come and meet Him, so Moses began the long, hard climb up the mountain.