10. and they beheld the God of Israel. Under his feet there appeared to be sapphire tilework, as clear as the sky itself.
11. Yet he did not lay a hand on these chosen Israelites. They saw God, and they ate and drank.
12. The Lord said to Moses: Come up to me on the mountain and, while you are there, I will give you the stone tablets on which I have written the commandments intended for their instruction.
13. So Moses set out with Joshua, his assistant, and went up to the mountain of God.
14. He told the elders, “Wait here for us until we return to you. Aaron and Hur are with you. Anyone with a complaint should approach them.”
15. Moses went up the mountain. Then the cloud covered the mountain.
16. The glory of the Lord settled upon Mount Sinai. The cloud covered it for six days, and on the seventh day he called to Moses from the midst of the cloud.
17. To the Israelites the glory of the Lord was seen as a consuming fire on the top of the mountain.
18. But Moses entered into the midst of the cloud and went up on the mountain. He was on the mountain for forty days and forty nights.