¹¹ And ^(A)you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, while ^(B)the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, wrapped in darkness, cloud, and gloom.

²³ And ^(A)as soon as you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes, and your elders.

A Kingdom That Cannot Be Shaken

¹⁸ For you have not come to ^(A)what may be touched, a blazing fire and darkness and gloom and a tempest ¹⁹ and ^(B)the sound of a trumpet and a voice whose words ^(C)made the hearers beg that no further messages be spoken to them.

¹⁸ Now when all the people saw ^(A)the thunder and the flashes of lightning and the sound of the trumpet and the mountain smoking, the people were afraid^[a] and trembled, and they stood far off ¹⁹ and said to Moses, ^(B)“You speak to us, and we will listen; but do not let God speak to us, lest we die.”

¹⁶ On the morning of the ^(A)third day there were ^(B)thunders and lightnings and ^(C)a thick cloud on the mountain and a very loud ^(D)trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp ^(E)trembled. ¹⁷ Then ^(F)Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they took their stand at the foot of the mountain. ¹⁸ Now ^(G)Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke because the Lord had descended on it in fire. The smoke of it went up like the smoke of a kiln, and ^(H)the whole mountain trembled greatly.