Exodus 19

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¹In the third month of the going of Israel out of the land of Egypt, in this day they came into the wilderness of Sinai;

²for they went forth from Rephidim, and came till into the desert of Sinai, and they setted tents in the same place; and there Israel setted tents, even against the hill.

³Forsooth Moses went up into the hill to God; and the Lord called him from the mount, and said, Thou shalt say these things to the house of Jacob, and thou shalt tell to the sons of Israel,

⁴Ye yourselves have seen what things I have done to the Egyptians, how I bare you on the wings of eagles, and took you to me.

⁵Therefore if ye shall hear my voice, and shall keep my covenant, ye shall be to me into a specialty of all peoples, that is, a thing loved excellently; for all the earth is mine;

⁶and ye shall be to me into a realm of priesthood, and an holy folk; these be the words which thou shalt speak to the sons of Israel.

⁷Moses came, and when the greater men in birth of the people were called together, he expounded all the words which the Lord commanded him.

⁸And all the people answered together, We shall do all the things which the Lord hath spoken. And when Moses had told the words of the people to the Lord,

⁹the Lord said to him, Right now I shall come to thee in the darkness of a cloud, that the people hear me speaking to thee, and believe to thee without end. Therefore Moses told the words of the people to the Lord,

¹⁰which said to Moses, Go thou to the people, and make them holy today and tomorrow, and wash they their clothes,

¹¹and be they ready into the third day; for in the third day the Lord shall come down before all the people on the hill of Sinai.

¹²And thou shalt set terms to the people, by compass; and thou shalt say to them, Be ye ware, that ye go not up into the hill, neither touch ye the ends thereof; each man that shall touch the hill, shall die by death.

¹³Hands shall not touch him, but he shall be oppressed with stones, or he shall be pierced with darts; whether it shall be a beast, or a man, it shall not live; when a clarion shall begin to sound, then go they up into the hill.

¹⁴And Moses came down from the hill to the people, and hallowed it; and when they had washed their clothes,

¹⁵he said to them, Be ye ready into the third day; nigh ye not to your wives.

¹⁶And now the third day was come, and the morrowtide was clear; and, lo! thunders began to be heard, and lightnings to shine, and a most thick cloud to cover the mountain; and the sounding of a clarion made noise full greatly, and the people dreaded, that was in the tents.

¹⁷And when Moses had led them out into the coming of God, from the place of the tents, they stood at the roots of the hill.

¹⁸Forsooth all the hill of Sinai smoked, for the Lord had come down thereon in fire; and the smoke thereof went up as of a furnace, and all the hill was fearful;

¹⁹and the sound of a clarion increased little and little, and it was holden forth longer. Moses spake, and the Lord answered him,

²⁰and the Lord came down on the hill of Sinai, in that top of the hill, and he called Moses to the top thereof. And when he had gone up thither,

²¹the Lord said to him, Go thou down, and witness thou to the people, lest peradventure it will pass over the terms to see the Lord, and a full great multitude thereof perish;

²²and the priests, that nigh to the Lord, be they hallowed, lest I smite them.

²³And Moses said to the Lord, The common people may not go up into the hill of Sinai; for thou hast witnessed, and hast commanded, saying, Set thou terms about the hill, and hallow it.

²⁴To whom the Lord said, Go thou down, and thou shalt go up, and bring Aaron with thee; forsooth the priests and the people pass not over the terms, neither go they up to the Lord, lest peradventure he slay them.

²⁵Moses went down to the people, and told all things to them.