They come to Sinai: the people are commanded to be sanctified. The Lord,
coming in thunder and lightning, speaketh with Moses.
19:1. In the third month of the departure of Israel out of the land of
Egypt, on this day they came into the wilderness of Sinai:
19:2. For departing out of Raphidim, and coming to the desert of Sinai,
they camped in the same place, and there Israel pitched their tents over
against the mountain.
19:3. And Moses went up to God; and the Lord called unto him from the
mountain, and said: Thus shalt thou say to the house of Jacob, and tell
the children of Israel:
And Moses went up to God... Moses went up to mount Sinai, where God
spoke to him.
19:4. You have seen what I have done to the Egyptians, how I have
carried you upon the wings of eagles, and have taken you to myself.
19:5. If therefore you will hear my voice, and keep my covenant, you
shall be my peculiar possession above all people: for all the earth is
mine.
19:6. And you shall be to me a priestly kingdom, and a holy nation.
These are the words thou shalt speak to the children of Israel.
19:7. Moses came; and calling together the elders of the people, he
declared all the words which the Lord had commanded.
19:8. And all the people answered together: All that the Lord hath
spoken, we will do. And when Moses had related the people's words to the
Lord,
19:9. The Lord said to him: Lo, now will I come to thee in the darkness
of a cloud, that the people may hear me speaking to thee, and may
believe thee for ever. And Moses told the words of the people to the
Lord.
19:10. And he said to him: Go to the people, and sanctify them to day,
and to morrow, and let them wash their garments.
19:11. And let them be ready against the third day; for on the third day
the Lord will come down in the sight of all the people, upon Mount
Sinai.
19:12. And thou shalt appoint certain limits to the people round about,
and thou shalt say to them: Take heed ye go not up into the mount, and
that ye touch not the borders thereof: every one that toucheth the
mount, dying he shall die.
19:13. No hands shall touch him, but he shall be stoned to death, or he
shall be shot through with arrows: whether it be beast, or man, he shall
not live. When the trumpet shall begin to sound, then let them go up
into the mount.
19:14. And Moses came down from the mount to the people, and sanctified
them. And when they had washed their garments,
19:15. He said to them: Be ready against the third day, and come not
near your wives.
19:16. And now the third day was come, and the morning appeared: and
behold thunders began to be heard, and lightning to flash, and a very
thick cloud to cover the mount, and the noise of the trumpet sounded
exceeding loud; and the people that was in the camp, feared.
19:17. And when Moses had brought them forth to meet God, from the place
of the camp, they stood at the bottom of the mount.
19:18. And all Mount Sinai was on a smoke: because the Lord was come
down upon it in fire, and the smoke arose from it as out of a furnace:
and all the mount was terrible.
19:19. And the sound of the trumpet grew by degrees louder and louder,
and was drawn out to a greater length: Moses spoke, and God answered
him.
19:20. And the Lord came down upon Mount Sinai, in the very top of the
mount, and he called Moses unto the top thereof. And when he was gone up
thither,
19:21. He said unto him: Go down, and charge the people; lest they
should have a mind to pass the limits to see the Lord, and a very great
multitude of them should perish.
19:22. The priests also that come to the Lord, let them be sanctified,
lest he strike them.
19:23. And Moses said to the Lord: The people cannot come up to Mount
Sinai: for thou didst charge, and command, saying: Set limits about the
mount, and sanctify it.
19:24. And the Lord said to him: Go, get thee down; and thou shalt come
up, thou and Aaron with thee: but let not the priests and the people
pass the limits, nor come up to the Lord, lest he kill them.
19:25. And Moses went down to the people and told them all.