³ And ^(A)Moses went up to God, and the Lord ^(B)called to him from the mountain, saying, “Thus you shall say to the house of Jacob, and tell the children of Israel:

⁴ So when the Lord saw that he turned aside to look, God called ^(A)to him from the midst of the bush and said, “Moses, Moses!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

^38 (A)“This is he who was in the ^[a]congregation in the wilderness with ^(B)the Angel who spoke to him on Mount Sinai, and with our fathers, ^(C)the one who received the living ^(D)oracles^[b] to give to us,

^5 (A)I stood between the Lord and you at that time, to declare to you the word of the Lord; for ^(B)you were afraid because of the fire, and you did not go up the mountain. He said:

²² “These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly, in the mountain from the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and He added no more. And ^(V)He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.

The People Afraid of God’s Presence^(W)

^23 (X)“So it was, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, that you came near to me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders. ²⁴ And you said: ‘Surely the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and ^(Y)we have heard His voice from the midst of the fire. We have seen this day that God speaks with man; yet he ^(Z)still lives. ²⁵ Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; ^(AA)if we hear the voice of the Lord our God anymore, then we shall die. ^26 (AB)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? ²⁷ You go near and hear all that the Lord our God may say, and ^(AC)tell us all that the Lord our God says to you, and we will hear and do it.’

²⁸ “Then the Lord heard the voice of your words when you spoke to me, and the Lord said to me: ‘I have heard the voice of the words of this people which they have spoken to you. ^(AD)They are right in all that they have spoken. ^29 (AE)Oh, that they had such a heart in them that they would fear Me and ^(AF)always keep all My commandments, ^(AG)that it might be well with them and with their children forever! ³⁰ Go and say to them, “Return to your tents.” ³¹ But as for you, stand here by Me, ^(AH)and I will speak to you all the commandments, the statutes, and the judgments which you shall teach them, that they may observe them in the land which I am giving them to possess.’

¹⁵ Then Moses went up into the mountain, and ^(A)a cloud covered the mountain.

¹⁶ Now ^(B)the glory of the Lord rested on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days. And on the seventh day He called to Moses out of the midst of the cloud. ¹⁷ The sight of the glory of the Lord was like ^(C)a consuming fire on the top of the mountain in the eyes of the children of Israel. ¹⁸ So Moses went into the midst of the cloud and went up into the mountain. And ^(D)Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.