17. Moses led them out of the camp to meet God, and they stood at the foot of the mountain.
18. The whole of Mount Sinai was covered with smoke, because the Lord had come down on it in fire. The smoke went up like the smoke of a furnace, and all the people trembled violently.
19. The sound of the trumpet became louder and louder. Moses spoke, and God answered him with thunder.
20. The Lord came down on the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. Moses went up
21. and the Lord said to him, “Go down and warn the people not to cross the boundary to come and look at me; if they do, many of them will die.
22. Even the priests who come near me must purify themselves, or I will punish them.”
23. Moses said to the Lord, “The people cannot come up, because you commanded us to consider the mountain sacred and to mark a boundary round it.”
24. The Lord replied, “Go down and bring Aaron back with you. But the priests and the people must not cross the boundary to come up to me, or I will punish them.”
25. Moses then went down to the people and told them what the Lord had said.