At Mount Sinai God tells Israel they will be a kingdom of priests and a holy nation. The people consecrate themselves, and the mountain trembles with thunder and fire.
1 In the third month , when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt , the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai .
2 For they were departed from Rephidim , and were come to the desert of Sinai , and had pitched in the wilderness ; and there Israel camped before the mount .
3 And Moses went up unto God , and the LORD called unto him out of the mountain , saying , Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob , and tell the children of Israel ;
4 Ye have seen what I did unto the Egyptians , and how I bare you on eagles ' wings , and brought you unto myself.
5 Now therefore, if ye will obey my voice indeed , and keep my covenant , then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people : for all the earth is mine:
6 And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests , and an holy nation . These are the words which thou shalt speak unto the children of Israel .
7 And Moses came and called for the elders of the people , and laid before their faces all these words which the LORD commanded him.
8 And all the people answered together , and said , All that the LORD hath spoken we will do . And Moses returned the words of the people unto the LORD .
9 And the LORD said unto Moses , Lo, I come unto thee in a thick cloud , that the people may hear when I speak with thee, and believe thee for ever . And Moses told the words of the people unto the LORD .
10 And the LORD said unto Moses , Go unto the people , and sanctify them to day and to morrow , and let them wash their clothes ,
11 And be ready against the third day : for the third day the LORD will come down in the sight of all the people upon mount Sinai .
12 And thou shalt set bounds unto the people round about , saying , Take heed to yourselves, that ye go not up into the mount , or touch the border of it: whosoever toucheth the mount shall be surely put to death :
13 There shall not an hand touch it, but he shall surely be stoned , or shot through ; whether it be beast or man , it shall not live : when the trumpet soundeth long , they shall come up to the mount .
14 And Moses went down from the mount unto the people , and sanctified the people ; and they washed their clothes .
15 And he said unto the people , Be ready against the third day : come not at your wives .
16 And it came to pass on the third day in the morning , that there were thunders and lightnings , and a thick cloud upon the mount , and the voice of the trumpet exceeding loud ; so that all the people that was in the camp trembled .
17 And Moses brought forth the people out of the camp to meet with God ; and they stood at the nether part of the mount .
18 And mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke , because the LORD descended upon it in fire : and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace , and the whole mount quaked greatly .
19 And when the voice of the trumpet sounded long , and waxed louder and louder , Moses spake , and God answered him by a voice .
20 And the LORD came down upon mount Sinai , on the top of the mount : and the LORD called Moses up to the top of the mount ; and Moses went up .
21 And the LORD said unto Moses , Go down , charge the people , lest they break through unto the LORD to gaze , and many of them perish .
22 And let the priests also, which come near to the LORD , sanctify themselves, lest the LORD break forth upon them.
23 And Moses said unto the LORD , The people cannot come up to mount Sinai : for thou chargedst us, saying , Set bounds about the mount , and sanctify it.
24 And the LORD said unto him, Away , get thee down , and thou shalt come up , thou, and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people break through to come up unto the LORD , lest he break forth upon them.
25 So Moses went down unto the people , and spake unto them.