^16 (A)On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud appeared on the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast was heard. All the people in the camp trembled with fear. ¹⁷ Moses led them out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. ¹⁸ All of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord had come down on it in fire. The smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and all the people trembled violently.

^18 (A)You have not come, as the people of Israel came, to what you can feel, to Mount Sinai with its blazing fire, the darkness and the gloom, the storm, ¹⁹ the blast of a trumpet, and the sound of a voice. When the people heard the voice, they begged not to hear another word,