Exodus 19:10–22

¹⁰and the Lord told Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes^{q 11}and be prepared by the third day, for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.^{r 12}Put boundaries for the people all around the mountain and say: Be careful that you don’t go up on the mountain or touch its base. Anyone who touches the mountain must be put to death.^{s 13}No hand may touch him;^A instead he will be stoned or shot with arrows and not live, whether animal or human. When the trumpet sounds a long blast, they may go up the mountain.”

¹⁴Then Moses came down from the mountain to the people and consecrated them, and they washed their clothes. ¹⁵He said to the people, “Be prepared by the third day. Do not have sexual relations with women.”

¹⁶On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud blast from a trumpet, so that all the people in the camp shuddered. ¹⁷Then Moses brought the people out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain. ¹⁸Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the Lord came down on it in fire.^t Its smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace,^u and the whole mountain shook violently.^{v 19}As the sound of the trumpet grew louder and louder, Moses spoke and God answered him in the thunder.^w

²⁰The Lord came down on Mount Sinai at the top of the mountain. Then the Lord summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and he went up. ²¹The Lord directed Moses, “Go down and warn the people not to break through to see the Lord; otherwise many of them will die.^{a 22}Even the priests who come near the Lord must consecrate themselves, or the Lord will break out in anger against them.”^b