Meanwhile, Moses continued tending the sheep that belonged to his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian. He led the sheep to the western desert and came to Horeb, God's mountain, where

Then God said, "I certainly will be with you. And this will be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: When you have brought the people out of Egypt, all of you will serve God on this mountain."

The LORD told Aaron, "Go meet Moses in the desert." So Aaron went, found him at the mountain of God, and embraced him.

"You will bring them in and plant them on the mountain of your inheritance. You have made a place where you will reside, LORD. Your own hands have established a sanctuary, LORD.

Moses' father-in-law Jethro, together with Moses' two sons and his wife, came to Moses in the desert where he was camped at the mountain of God.

They had set out from Rephidim and arrived at the desert of Sinai where they camped in the desert. Israel camped there in front of the mountain.

Then Moses went up to God, and the LORD called to him from the mountain: "This is what you are to say to the house of Jacob and declare to the sons of Israel,

You are to set boundaries for the people all around: "Be very careful that you don't go up on the mountain or touch the side of it. Anyone who touches the mountain is certainly to be put to death.

No hand is to touch that person, but he is certainly to be stoned or shot; whether animal or person, he is not to live.' They are to approach the mountain only when the ram's horn sounds a long blast."

When Moses went down from the mountain to the people, he consecrated the people, and they washed their clothes.

When morning came on the third day, there was thunder and lightning, with a heavy cloud over the mountain, and the very loud sound of a ram's horn. All the people in the camp trembled.

Moses brought the people from the camp to meet God, and they stood at the base of the mountain.

Mount Sinai was completely enveloped in smoke because the LORD had come down in fire on it. Smoke went up from it like smoke from a kiln, and the whole mountain shook violently.

When the LORD came down on Mount Sinai to the top of the mountain, he summoned Moses to the top of the mountain, and Moses went up.

Moses told the LORD, "The people cannot come up to Mount Sinai because you warned us: "Set boundaries around the mountain and consecrate it.'"

All the people experienced the thunder and lightning, the sound of the ram's horn, and the smoking mountain. And as the people experienced it, they trembled and stood at a distance.

So Moses wrote down all the words of the LORD. He got up early in the morning and built an altar with twelve pillars for the twelve tribes of Israel at the base of the mountain.

Then the LORD told Moses, "Go up to me on the mountain and stay there. I'll give you stone tablets with the instruction and law that I've written to teach the people."

So Moses got up, along with Joshua his servant, and went up on the mountain of God.

When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it.

To the Israelis the appearance of the glory of the LORD was like a consuming fire on top of the mountain.

When Moses went up on the mountain, he went into the center of the cloud and was on the mountain for 40 days and 40 nights.

Now see that you make them according to the pattern for them which you are being shown on the mountain."

You are to erect the tent according to the plan for it that was shown you on the mountain.

You are to make it hollow out of boards just as it was shown you on the mountain, that's how they are to make it."

In the Tent of Meeting, outside the curtain that is before the Testimony, Aaron and his sons are to maintain the lamp stand from evening until morning in the LORD's presence. It is to be a perpetual ordinance from generation to generation among the Israelis."

When the people saw that Moses took a long time to come down the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and told him, "Come here and make us a god who will go before us, because, as for this fellow Moses who led us out of the land of Egypt, we don't know what has become of him."

Then Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two Tablets of the Testimony in his hand, tablets which were written on both sides. They were written on one side and the other.

As Moses approached the camp and saw the calf and the dancing, he became angry. He threw the tablets from his hands and shattered them at the base of the mountain.

Be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning on Mount Sinai, where you are to present yourself to me there on the top of the mountain.

No one is to come up with you, nor is anyone to be seen anywhere on the mountain. Also, the sheep and cattle are not to graze in front of that mountain."