Exodus 24

The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to the LORD, you, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. Worship from a distance.

1And he said unto Moses, Come up unto the LORD, thou, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel; and worship ye afar off.

Note"Elders" here are not clergy but the senior heads of the families and clans, the men who spoke and acted for the tribes in public matters. Nadab and Abihu are Aaron's two oldest sons. "Worship from a distance" is a boundary instruction: the group is to bow down at a set remove from the mountain rather than climb it.

2Moses alone is to come near the LORD. The others must not come close, and the people must not go up with him."

2And Moses alone shall come near the LORD: but they shall not come nigh; neither shall the people go up with him.

3Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD and all his rulings. All the people answered together with one voice, "We will do everything the LORD has said."

3And Moses came and told the people all the words of the LORD, and all the judgments: and all the people answered with one voice, and said, All the words which the LORD hath said will we do.

Note"Rulings" translates a Hebrew word (mishpatim) for case law, decisions of the "if a man does this, then this follows" kind, like the laws set out in the three preceding chapters. It is a different word from the broad "words" or commands, and the verse deliberately names both.

4Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. Early in the morning he got up and built an altar at the foot of the mountain, along with twelve stone pillars, one for each of the twelve tribes of Israel.

4And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD, and rose up early in the morning, and builded an altar under the hill, and twelve pillars, according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

NoteThe twelve pillars are upright standing stones. In the ancient Near East stones were set up at the site of an agreement to mark it and to stand as permanent witnesses to it. The twelve tribes are the family groups descended from the twelve sons of Jacob.

5He sent young men of Israel, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed oxen as peace offerings to the LORD.

5And he sent young men of the children of Israel, which offered burnt offerings, and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen unto the LORD.

NoteThe formal priesthood described later in Exodus has not been set up yet, so ordinary young Israelites do the slaughtering. A burnt offering was consumed entirely on the altar; a peace offering (Hebrew shelamim) had only certain portions burned, with the rest eaten by the worshipers in a shared meal, which is why the men on the mountain eat and drink in verse 11.

6Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and he sprinkled the other half of the blood on the altar.

6And Moses took half of the blood, and put it in basons; and half of the blood he sprinkled on the altar.

NoteBlood was the standard medium for putting an agreement formally into force. Splitting it in two and applying half to the altar and half to the people (verse 8) binds both parties to the same terms.

7Then he took the book of the covenant and read it out loud so the people could hear it. They said, "We will do everything the LORD has said, and we will obey."

7And he took the book of the covenant, and read in the audience of the people: and they said, All that the LORD hath said will we do, and be obedient.

NoteThe "book" is a scroll, a written document, not a bound book. Reading it aloud was the ordinary way of publishing a legal text to a population that mostly could not read, and hearing it read is what makes the people's spoken assent binding.

8So Moses took the blood and sprinkled it on the people, and he said, "Look, this is the blood of the covenant that the LORD has made with you, based on all these words."

8And Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, Behold the blood of the covenant, which the LORD hath made with you concerning all these words.

NoteA covenant is a formal, binding agreement with sworn obligations on both sides, closer to a treaty or contract than to a promise. "The blood of the covenant" names the blood as the thing that ratifies it, the way a seal or signature ratifies a document.

9Then Moses went up, along with Aaron, Nadab, Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel.

9Then went up Moses, and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel:

10And they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of sapphire stone, as clear as the sky itself.

10And they saw the God of Israel: and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in his clearness.

NoteThe Hebrew word rendered "sapphire" (sappir) most likely refers to lapis lazuli, a deep blue stone prized in the ancient world. The description works from the ground up, the writer says what was under God's feet and does not describe God.

11He did not lay his hand on the leading men of Israel. They saw God, and they ate and drank.

11And upon the nobles of the children of Israel he laid not his hand: also they saw God, and did eat and drink.

Note"Did not lay his hand on" is a Hebrew idiom for not striking down or harming. The remark is made because the assumption elsewhere in these texts is that seeing God would be fatal. "Nobles" and "leading men" render a term for the same distinguished group named in verse 9. Their eating and drinking is the meal from the peace offerings of verse 5, the customary way of concluding an agreement.

12The LORD said to Moses, "Come up to me on the mountain and stay there. I will give you the stone tablets, with the law and the commands I have written, so that you can teach them."

12And the LORD said unto Moses, Come up to me into the mount, and be there: and I will give thee tables of stone, and a law, and commandments which I have written; that thou mayest teach them.

NoteWriting on stone made a text permanent and publicly displayable, as opposed to a scroll that could be altered or destroyed. The Hebrew is open about how "the law and the commands" relate to the tablets: it can be read as saying the tablets contain them, or that God will give them along with the tablets.

13So Moses got up, and so did Joshua, his helper, and Moses went up on the mountain of God.

13And Moses rose up, and his minister Joshua: and Moses went up into the mount of God.

Note"Helper" (Hebrew mesharet) means a personal attendant or assistant to an important person, a position of standing, not slavery.

14He said to the elders, "Wait here for us until we come back to you. Look, Aaron and Hur are with you. If anyone has a matter to settle, let him go to them."

14And he said unto the elders, Tarry ye here for us, until we come again unto you: and, behold, Aaron and Hur are with you: if any man have any matters to do, let him come unto them.

NoteHur appears earlier holding up Moses' hands during the battle at Rephidim. "A matter to settle" means a legal dispute; the elders functioned as judges, so Moses is naming who holds that authority while he is gone.

15Moses went up on the mountain, and a cloud covered the mountain.

15And Moses went up into the mount, and a cloud covered the mount.

16The glory of the LORD settled on Mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it for six days. On the seventh day the LORD called to Moses from inside the cloud.

16And the glory of the LORD abode upon mount Sinai, and the cloud covered it six days: and the seventh day he called unto Moses out of the midst of the cloud.

17To the eyes of the people of Israel, the sight of the glory of the LORD was like a fire burning everything up on the top of the mountain.

17And the sight of the glory of the LORD was like devouring fire on the top of the mount in the eyes of the children of Israel.

18Moses went into the middle of the cloud as he climbed the mountain. Moses stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.

18And Moses went into the midst of the cloud, and gat him up into the mount: and Moses was in the mount forty days and forty nights.