^4 (A)The Lord talked with you face to face on the mountain from the midst of the fire.

¹⁸ Now ^(A)Mount Sinai was completely in smoke, because the Lord descended upon ^(B)it in fire. ^(C)Its smoke ascended like the smoke of a furnace, and ^[a]the ^(D)whole mountain quaked greatly. ¹⁹ And when the blast of the trumpet sounded long and became louder and louder, ^(E)Moses spoke, and ^(F)God answered him by voice.

¹⁰ But since then there ^(A)has not arisen in Israel a prophet like Moses, ^(B)whom the Lord knew face to face,

^36 (A)Out of heaven He let you hear His voice, that He might instruct you; on earth He showed you His great fire, and you heard His words out of the midst of the fire.

^33 (A)Did any people ever hear the voice of God speaking out of the midst of the fire, as you have heard, and live?

⁹ And the Lord said to Moses, “Behold, I come to you ^(A)in the thick cloud, ^(B)that the people may hear when I speak with you, and believe you forever.”

So Moses told the words of the people to the Lord.

²⁴ And you said: ‘Surely the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and ^(A)we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he ^(B)still lives. ²⁵ Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; ^(C)if we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, then we shall die. ^26 (D)For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the midst of the fire, as we have, and lived?

¹¹ So ^(A)the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but ^(B)his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.

The People Afraid of God’s Presence

¹⁸ Now ^(A)all the people ^(B)witnessed the thunderings, the lightning flashes, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain ^(C)smoking; and when the people saw it, they trembled and stood afar off. ¹⁹ Then they said to Moses, ^(D)“You speak with us, and we will hear; but ^(E)let not God speak with us, lest we die.”

²⁰ And Moses said to the people, ^(F)“Do not fear; ^(G)for God has come to test you, and ^(H)that His fear may be before you, so that you may not sin.” ²¹ So the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near ^(I)the thick darkness where God was.

The Law of the Altar

²² Then the Lord said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the children of Israel: ‘You have seen that I have talked with you ^(J)from heaven.