Exo 24 | EE | STEP | Then God said to Moses: ‘Come up to the LORD. Come with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and 70 of the leaders of Israel. You must worship me, but do not come near.

Exodus 24

God repeats his covenant

1 Then God said to Moses: ‘Come up to the LORD. Come with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and 70 of the leaders of Israel. You must worship me, but do not come near. 2 Only Moses can come near to me. And the people must not come with him.’

3 Then Moses told the people all the LORD‘s words and rules. And the people answered together: ‘We will do everything that the LORD has said.’ 4 Then Moses wrote down everything that the LORD had said.

The next morning, Moses got up early and he built a stone table. He built it at the lowest part of the mountain. Then he put up 12 large stones, one stone for each big family of Israel. 5 Moses sent young Israelite men to offer gifts to the LORD of burnt animals and young male cows.

6 Moses took half of the blood of these animals and he put it in pots. He sprinkled the other half of the blood over the stone table. 7 Then he took the scroll of the covenant and he read it to the people. They replied: ‘We will do everything that the LORD has said. We will obey him.’

8 Then Moses took the blood in the pots and he sprinkled it on the people. He said: ‘This blood will cause you to remember the covenant that the LORD has made with you. He has made the covenant with you, with all these words on the scroll.’

9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, Abihu and the 70 Israelite leaders went up the mountain. 10 They saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a path of valuable blue stone. It shone like the sky itself. 11 God did not attack these Israelite leaders. They saw God. And they ate and drank.

12 The LORD said to Moses: ‘Come up to me on the mountain. Stay here and I will give the flat stones to you. I have written on them the Law and the rules. So now you can teach them to the people.’

13 Then Moses went up the mountain of God, with Joshua, his servant. 14 He said to the leaders: ‘Wait here for us. We will come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you. Anyone who cannot agree with his brothers can go to them.’

15 When Moses went up the mountain, the cloud covered it. 16 The LORD‘s special bright light appeared on Mount Sinai. The cloud covered the mountain for 6 days. Then on the seventh day, the LORD spoke to Moses from inside the cloud. 17 The LORD‘s special bright light looked like a fire that destroyed everything. When the Israelites looked at it, they saw it like a fire. 18 Then Moses climbed the mountain and he went into the cloud. And he stayed on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights.