¹² And you shall set bounds for the people round about, saying, Take heed that you go not up into the mountain or touch the border of it. Whoever touches the mountain shall surely be put to death.

¹³ No hand shall touch it [or the offender], but he shall surely be stoned or shot [with arrows]; whether beast or man, he shall not live. When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they shall come up to the mountain.^(A)

¹⁴ So Moses went down from the mountain to the people and sanctified them [set them apart for God], and they washed their clothes.

¹⁵ And he said to the people, Be ready by the day after tomorrow; do not go near a woman.

¹⁶ The third morning there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast, so that all the people in the camp trembled.

¹⁷ Then Moses brought the people from the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.

¹⁸ Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, for the Lord descended upon it in fire; its smoke ascended like that of a furnace, and the whole mountain quaked greatly.

¹⁹ As the trumpet blast grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him with a voice.^(B)

²⁰ The Lord came down upon Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain, and the Lord called Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

²¹ The Lord said to Moses, Go down and warn the people, lest they break through to the Lord to gaze and many of them perish.

²² And also let the priests, who come near to the Lord, sanctify (set apart) themselves [for God], lest the Lord break forth against them.

¹⁸ Now all the people perceived the thunderings and the lightnings and the noise of the trumpet and the smoking mountain, and as [they] looked they trembled with fear and fell back and stood afar off.

¹⁹ And they said to Moses, You speak to us and we will listen, but let not God speak to us, lest we die.

²⁰ And Moses said to the people, Fear not; for God has come to prove you, so that the [reverential] fear of Him may be before you, that you may not sin.

²¹ And the people stood afar off, but Moses drew near to the thick darkness where God was.

¹¹ And you came near and stood at the foot of the mountain, and the mountain burned with fire to the heart of heaven, with darkness, cloud, and thick gloom.

¹² And the Lord spoke to you out of the midst of the fire. You heard the voice of the words, but saw no form; there was only a voice.

²² These words the Lord spoke to all your assembly at the mountain out of the midst of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, with a loud voice; and He spoke not again [added no more]. He wrote them on two tables of stone and gave them to me [Moses].

²³ And when you heard the voice out of the midst of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you came near me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders;

²⁴ And you said, Behold, the Lord our God has shown us His glory and His greatness, and we have heard His voice out of the midst of the fire; we have this day seen that God speaks with man and man still lives.

²⁵ Now therefore, why should we die? For this great fire will consume us; if we hear the voice of the Lord our God any longer, we shall die.

²⁶ For who is there of all flesh who has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the midst of fire, as we have, and lived?

²⁷ Go near [Moses] and hear all that the Lord our God will say. And speak to us all that the Lord our God will speak to you; and we will hear and do it.