Moses writeth his law; and after offering sacrifices, sprinkleth the
blood of the testament upon the people: then goeth up the mountain
which God covereth with a fiery cloud.
24:1. And he said to Moses: Come up to the Lord, thou, and Aaron, Nadab
and Abiu, and seventy of the ancients of Israel, and you shall adore
afar off.
24:2. And Moses alone shall come up to the Lord, but they shall not
come nigh; neither shall the people come up with him.
24:3. So Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord, and
all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice: We will
do all the words of the Lord, which he hath spoken.
24:4. And Moses wrote all the words of the Lord: and rising in the
morning, he built an altar at the foot of the mount, and twelve titles
according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
Titles. . .That is, pillars.
24:5. And he sent young men of the children of Israel, and they offered
holocausts, and sacrificed pacific victims of calves to the Lord.
Holocausts. . .Whole burnt offerings, in which the whole sacrifice was
consumed with fire upon the altar.
24:6. Then Moses took half of the blood, and put it into bowls; and the
rest he poured upon the altar.
24:7. And taking the book of the covenant, he read it in the hearing of
the people: and they said: All things that the Lord hath spoken, we
will do, we will be obedient.
24:8. And he took the blood and sprinkled it upon the people, and he
said: This is the blood of the covenant, which the Lord hath made with
you concerning all these words.
24:9. Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abiu, and seventy of the ancients
of Israel went up:
24:10. And they saw the God of Israel: and under his feet as it were a
work of sapphire stone, and as the heaven, when clear.
24:11. Neither did he lay his hand upon those of the children of
Israel, that retired afar off, and they saw God, and they did eat and
drink.
24:12. And the Lord said to Moses: Come up to me into the mount, and be
there; and I will give thee tables of stone, and the law, and the
commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.
24:13. Moses rose up, and his minister Josue: and Moses going up into
the mount of God,
24:14. Said to the ancients: Wait ye here till we return to you. You
have Aaron and Hur with you: if any question shall arise, you shall
refer it to them.
24:15. And when Moses was gone up, a cloud covered the mount.
24:16. And the glory of the Lord dwelt upon Sinai, covering it with a
cloud six days: and the seventh day he called him out of the midst of
the cloud.
24:17. And the sight of the glory of the Lord, was like a burning fire
upon the top of the mount, in the eyes of the children of Israel.
24:18. And Moses entering into the midst of the cloud, went up into the
mountain: And he was there forty days and forty nights.