The Covenant Confirmed
1Then the Lord said to Moses, “Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of the elders of Israel. You are to worship at a distance, 2but Moses alone is to approach the Lord; the others must not come near. And the people may not come up with him.”
3When Moses went and told the people all the Lord’s words and laws, they responded with one voice, “Everything the Lord has said we will do.” 4Moses then wrote down everything the Lord had said.
He got up early the next morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain and set up twelve stone pillars representing the twelve tribes of Israel. 5Then he sent young Israelite men, and they offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as fellowship offerings to the Lord. 6Moses took half of the blood and put it in bowls, and the other half he splashed against the altar. 7Then he took the Book of the Covenant and read it to the people. They responded, “We will do everything the Lord has said; we will obey.”
8Moses then took the blood, sprinkled it on the people and said, “This is the blood of the covenant that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.”
9Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and the seventy elders of Israel went up 10and saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a pavement made of lapis lazuli, as bright blue as the sky. 11But God did not raise his hand against these leaders of the Israelites; they saw God, and they ate and drank.
12The Lord said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain and stay here, and I will give you the tablets of stone with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”
13Then Moses set out with Joshua his aide, and Moses went up on the mountain of God. 14He said to the elders, “Wait here for us until we come back to you. Aaron and Hur are with you, and anyone involved in a dispute can go to them.”
15When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, 16and the glory of the Lord settled on Mount Sinai. For six days the cloud covered the mountain, and on the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from within the cloud. 17To the Israelites the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain. 18Then Moses entered the cloud as he went on up the mountain. And he stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Agano Lathibitishwa
124:1 Kut 19:24; 6:23; Hes 11:16; Law 10:1-2Kisha Mungu akamwambia Mose, “Njooni huku juu kwa Bwana, wewe na Aroni, Nadabu na Abihu, pamoja na wazee sabini wa Israeli. Mniabudu kwa mbali, 224:2 Hes 12:6-8lakini Mose peke yake ndiye atakayemkaribia Bwana; wengine wasije karibu. Nao watu wasije wakapanda pamoja naye.”
324:3 Kut 21:1; Gal 3:19; Kut 19:8; Yos 24:24; Kum 5:27Mose alipokwenda na kuwaambia watu maneno yote na sheria zote za Bwana, wakaitikia kwa sauti moja, “Kila kitu alichosema Bwana tutakifanya.” 424:4 Kut 17:14; Mwa 8:20; 28:18; Kum 31:9; 27:2Ndipo Mose akaandika kila kitu Bwana alichokuwa amesema.
Akaamka kesho yake asubuhi na mapema na kujenga madhabahu chini ya mlima na kusimamisha nguzo kumi na mbili za mawe kuwakilisha makabila kumi na mawili ya Israeli. 524:5 Law 1:3; Mwa 31:54Kisha akawatuma vijana wanaume wa Kiisraeli, nao wakatoa sadaka za kuteketezwa na dhabihu za mafahali wachanga kuwa sadaka za amani kwa Bwana. 624:6 Kut 14:15; 32:31; Za 99:6; Ebr 9:18; Law 1:11; 3:2, 8; 5:9; Mt 26:28Mose akachukua nusu ya damu ya wale wanyama na kuiweka kwenye mabakuli na nusu nyingine akainyunyiza juu ya madhabahu. 724:7 2Fal 23:2, 21; Ebr 9:19; Kut 19:8; Yer 40:3; 42:6, 21; 43:2Kisha akachukua kile Kitabu cha Agano na kuwasomea watu. Nao wakajibu, “Tutafanya kila kitu alichosema Bwana, nasi tutatii.”
824:8 Ebr 9:19; 1Pet 1:2; Law 26:3; Kum 5:2-3; Yos 24:25; 2Fal 11:17; Yer 11:4-8; 31:32; 34:13; Zek 9:11; Mt 26:28; Lk 22:20; Ebr 9:20Ndipo Mose akachukua ile damu, akawanyunyizia wale watu, akasema, “Hii ni damu ya agano ambalo Bwana amelifanya nanyi kufuatana na maneno haya yote.”
9Mose na Aroni, Nadabu na Abihu, pamoja na wazee sabini wa Israeli wakapanda mlimani, 1024:10 Mwa 16:13; Hes 12:6; Isa 6:1; Eze 8:3; 40:2; Yn 1:18; Ay 28:16; Isa 54:11; Ufu 4:3nao wakamwona Mungu wa Israeli. Chini ya miguu yake kulikuwa na kitu kama sakafu ya mawe ya yakuti samawi, iliyo safi kama anga angavu. 1124:11 Kut 3:6; 19:2; Eze 44:3; Mt 26:29; Mwa 32:30Lakini Mungu hakuinua mkono wake dhidi ya hawa viongozi wa Waisraeli; walimwona Mungu, nao wakala na kunywa.
1224:12 Kut 31:18; 32:15-16; 34:1, 28, 29; Kum 4:13; 5:22; 8:3; 9:9-11; 2Kor 3:12Bwana akamwambia Mose, “Panda uje kwangu huku mlimani na ukae hapa, nami nitakupa vibao vya mawe, vyenye sheria na amri ambazo nimeziandika ziwe mwongozo wao.”
1324:13 Kut 17:9; 3:1Basi Mose akaondoka na Yoshua mtumishi wake, naye Mose akapanda juu kwenye mlima wa Mungu. 1424:14 Kut 17:10; 18:16Mose akawaambia wazee wa Israeli, “Tungojeni hapa mpaka tutakapowarudia. Aroni na Huri wako pamoja nanyi, na kila aliye na neno aweza kuwaendea wao.”
1524:15 Kut 19:9; Mt 17:5Mose alipopanda juu mlimani, wingu liliufunika huo mlima, 1624:16 Kut 16:7; Law 9:23; Hes 14:10; 1Sam 4:21-22; Eze 8:4; 11:22; Kut 19:11; Za 99:7nao utukufu wa Bwana ukatua juu ya Mlima Sinai. Kwa muda wa siku sita wingu lilifunika mlima, na siku ya saba Bwana akamwita Mose kutoka katikati ya lile wingu. 1724:17 Kut 15:7; 19:18; Ebr 12:18, 29Kwa Waisraeli utukufu wa Bwana ulionekana kama moto uteketezao juu ya mlima. 1824:18 1Fal 19:8; Mwa 7:4; Mt 4:2; Kut 34:28; Kum 9:9Kisha Mose akaingia ndani ya lile wingu alivyokuwa akipanda mlimani. Naye akakaa huko mlimani kwa muda wa siku arobaini, usiku na mchana.
