The Covenant Confirmed

24 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron,^(A) Nadab and Abihu,^(B) and seventy of the elders^(C) of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, ² but Moses alone is to approach^(D) the Lord; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him.”

⁹ Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders^(A) of Israel went up ¹⁰ and saw^(B) the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli,^(C) as bright blue as the sky.^{(D) 11} But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw^(E) God, and they ate and drank.^(F)

¹⁵ When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud^(A) covered it, ¹⁶ and the glory^(B) of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai.^(C) For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud.^{(D) 17} To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire^(E) on top of the mountain. ¹⁸ Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty^(F) days and forty nights.^(G)

The Radiant Face of Moses

²⁹ When Moses came down from Mount Sinai^(A) with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands,^(B) he was not aware that his face was radiant^(C) because he had spoken with the Lord. ³⁰ When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, his face was radiant, and they were afraid to come near him. ³¹ But Moses called to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the community^(D) came back to him, and he spoke to them. ³² Afterward all the Israelites came near him, and he gave them all the commands^(E) the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.

³³ When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil^(F) over his face. ³⁴ But whenever he entered the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. And when he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded,