Exodus 19:1-25, NLT
Exodus 19
The Lord Reveals Himself at Sinai
1Exactly two months after the Israelites left Egypt,*19:1 Hebrew In the third month after the Israelites left Egypt, on the very day, i.e., two lunar months to the day after leaving Egypt. Compare Num 33:3. they arrived in the wilderness of Sinai.
3Then Moses climbed the mountain to appear before God. The Lord called to him from the mountain and said, “Give these instructions to the family of Jacob; announce it to the descendants of Israel:
7So Moses returned from the mountain and called together the elders of the people and told them everything the Lord had commanded him.
9Then the Lord said to Moses, “I will come to you in a thick cloud, Moses, so the people themselves can hear me when I speak with you. Then they will always trust you.”
Moses told the Lord what the people had said.
14So Moses went down to the people. He consecrated them for worship, and they washed their clothes.
16On the morning of the third day, thunder roared and lightning flashed, and a dense cloud came down on the mountain. There was a long, loud blast from a ram’s horn, and all the people trembled.
21Then the Lord told Moses, “Go back down and warn the people not to break through the boundaries to see the Lord, or they will die.
23“But Lord,” Moses protested, “the people cannot come up to Mount Sinai. You already warned us. You told me, ‘Mark off a boundary all around the mountain to set it apart as holy.’”
24But the Lord said, “Go down and bring Aaron back up with you. In the meantime, do not let the priests or the people break through to approach the Lord, or he will break out and destroy them.”
25So Moses went down to the people and told them what the Lord had said.