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)

¹² You shall set limits for the people all around, saying, ‘Be careful not to go up the mountain or to touch the edge of it. Any who touch the mountain shall be put to death.^{(A) 13} No hand shall touch them, but they shall be stoned or shot with arrows;^[a] whether animal or human being, they shall not live.’ When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they may go up on the mountain.” ¹⁴ So Moses went down from the mountain to the people. He consecrated the people, and they washed their clothes. ¹⁵ And he said to the people, “Prepare for the third day; do not go near a woman.”

¹⁶ On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, as well as a thick cloud on the mountain and a blast of a trumpet so loud that all the people who were in the camp trembled.^{(B) 17} Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God. They took their stand at the foot of the mountain. ¹⁸ Now all of Mount Sinai was wrapped in smoke, because the Lord had descended upon it in fire; the smoke went up like the smoke of a kiln, while the whole mountain shook violently.^{(C) 19} As the blast of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses would speak and God would answer him in thunder.^{(D) 20} When the Lord descended upon Mount Sinai, to the top of the mountain, the Lord summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up. ²¹ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go down and warn the people not to break through to see the Lord; otherwise many of them will perish.^{(E) 22} Even the priests who approach the Lord must consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out against them.”^(F)

⁷ for God did not give us a spirit of cowardice but rather a spirit of power and of love and of self-discipline.^(A)

⁹ For if there was glory in the ministry of condemnation,^[a] much more does the ministry of justification abound in glory!^(A)

¹⁵ For you did not receive a spirit of slavery to fall back into fear, but you received a spirit of adoption. When we cry, “Abba!^[a] Father!”^(A)