Exodus 24:1-11

Living Bible

24 The Lord now instructed Moses, “Come up here with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. All of you except Moses are to worship at a distance. ² Moses alone shall come near to the Lord; and remember, none of the ordinary people are permitted to come up into the mountain at all.”

³ Then Moses announced to the people all the laws and regulations God had given him; and the people answered in unison, “We will obey them all.”

⁴ Moses wrote down the laws; and early the next morning he built an altar at the foot of the mountain, with twelve pillars around the altar because there were twelve tribes of Israel. ⁵ Then he sent some of the young men to sacrifice the burnt offerings and peace offerings to the Lord. ⁶ Moses took half of the blood of these animals and drew it off into basins. The other half he splashed against the altar.

⁷ And he read to the people the Book he had written—the Book of the Covenant—containing God’s directions and laws. And the people said again, “We solemnly promise to obey every one of these rules.”

⁸ Then Moses threw the blood from the basins toward the people and said, “This blood confirms and seals the covenant the Lord has made with you in giving you these laws.”

⁹ Then Moses, Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel went up into the mountain. ¹⁰ And they saw the God of Israel; under his feet there seemed to be a pavement of brilliant sapphire stones, as clear as the heavens.

¹¹ Yet, even though the elders saw God, he did not destroy them; and they had a meal together before the Lord.