¹⁸ You have not come to something^[a] that can be touched, a blazing fire, and darkness, and gloom, and a tempest,^(A)

¹¹ you approached and stood at the foot of the mountain while the mountain was blazing up to the very heavens, shrouded in dark clouds.^(A)

¹⁷ Now the appearance of the glory of the Lord was like a devouring fire on the top of the mountain in the sight of the Israelites.^(A)

Moses the Mediator of God’s Will

²² “These words the Lord spoke with a loud voice to your whole assembly at the mountain, out of the fire, the cloud, and the thick darkness, and he added no more. He wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.^{(A) 23} When you heard the voice out of the darkness, while the mountain was burning with fire, you approached me, all the heads of your tribes and your elders, ²⁴ and you said, ‘Look, the Lord our God has shown us his glory and greatness, and we have heard his voice out of the fire. We have seen this day that God may speak to someone and the person may still live.^{(B) 25} But now 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.^{(C) 26} For who is there of all flesh that has heard the voice of the living God speaking out of the fire, as we have, and lived?^(D)

¹⁸ When all the people witnessed the thunder and lightning, the sound of the trumpet, and the mountain smoking, they were afraid^[a] and trembled and stood at a distance^(A)