1 The Lord told Moses, “Come up to the Lord—you and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of Israel's elders. You are to worship at a distance. 2 Only Moses may approach the Lord—the others must not come near. The people may not go up the mountain with him.” 3 Moses went and told the people all the Lord's instructions and regulations. They all responded together: “We will do everything the Lord says!” 4 Moses wrote down everything the Lord had said. He got up early the following morning and built an altar at the bottom of the mountain, and set up twelve pillars for each of the twelve tribes of Israel. 5 Then he sent out some young Israelite men who went and offered burnt offerings and sacrificed young bulls as peace offerings to the Lord. 6 Moses put half of the blood into bowls, and sprinkled the other half on the altar. 7 Then he picked up the Book of the Agreement and read it to the people. They replied, “We will do everything the Lord says. We will obey.” 8 So Moses took the blood, sprinkled it on the people, and said, “Look, this is the blood of the agreement that the Lord has made with you following these terms.” 9 Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab and Abihu, and seventy of Israel's elders climbed up the mountain, 10 and they saw the God of Israel. Under his feet was something like a tiled pavement made of lapis lazuli, as clear blue as the sky itself. 11 But God did not harm the leaders of Israel—they saw him, and they ate and drank a sacred meal. 12 Then the Lord told Moses, “Come up the mountain to me, and stay here, so I can give you the stone tablets, with the instructions and commands I have written for them to learn.” 13 So Moses left with Joshua his attendant and climbed up the mountain of God. 14 He told the elders, “Stay here and wait for us to return. Aaron and Hur are with you. If anyone has a problem, they can talk with them.” 15 As Moses climbed up on the mountain, the cloud covered it. 16 The Lord's glory came down on Mount Sinai, covering it for six days. On the seventh day the Lord called to Moses from inside the cloud. 17 To the Israelites the Lord's glory looked like a burning fire on the top of the mountain. 18 Moses went into the cloud as he climbed up on the mountain, and he stayed on the mountain for forty days and nights.
Exodus 24 Free Bible Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Aaron
Moses' brother and spokesman, Israel's first high priest.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 4–40; Leviticus 8–10
Hur
The man who with Aaron held up Moses' hands during the battle with Amalek at Rephidim, and who was left with Aaron to settle disputes while Moses went up the mountain. Exodus 31:2…
Cited in the guide: Exodus 17:10; Exodus 17:12; Exodus 24:14
Moses
Drawn from the Nile, he led Israel out of Egypt and received God's Law.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2–Deuteronomy 34
Places
Mount Sinai
The location is strongly debated — traditional Jebel Musa in the southern Sinai Peninsula is only one of several proposals (approximate location). It is where the Law was given.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 19:20; Exodus 3:1; Exodus 24:12
Cross references (18)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Numbers 11:16; Exodus 6:23; Leviticus 10:1–2; Exodus 28:1; Exodus 19:24
- 2 Hebrews 10:21–22; Exodus 24:18; Exodus 24:15; Exodus 24:13; Jeremiah 30:21
- 3 Exodus 19:8; Exodus 24:7; Joshua 24:22; Deuteronomy 5:1; Deuteronomy 6:1
- 4 Genesis 28:18; Deuteronomy 31:9; Revelation 21:14; Galatians 2:9; Luke 22:30
- 5 Exodus 18:12; Leviticus 7:11–21; Exodus 19:22; Leviticus 1:1–17; Leviticus 3:1–17
- 6 1 Peter 1:19; Exodus 24:8; Hebrews 9:18; Leviticus 4:6; Hebrews 12:24
- 7 Deuteronomy 31:11–13; Hebrews 9:18–23; Exodus 24:3–4; 1 Thessalonians 5:27; Colossians 4:16
- 8 Hebrews 10:4–5; Exodus 24:6; Ezekiel 36:25; Matthew 26:28; Hebrews 13:20
- 9 Exodus 24:1
- 10 John 1:18; Ezekiel 10:1; Exodus 33:23; Genesis 32:30; Exodus 33:20
- 11 Exodus 18:12; Luke 15:23–24; Genesis 31:54; Genesis 16:13; Deuteronomy 12:7
- 12 Deuteronomy 5:22; Exodus 31:18; Exodus 32:15–16; Hebrews 9:4; 2 Corinthians 3:3
- 13 Exodus 33:11; Numbers 11:28; Exodus 17:9–14; Exodus 3:1; Exodus 32:17
- 14 Exodus 17:12; Exodus 17:10; Genesis 22:5; Exodus 18:25–26; 1 Samuel 13:8–13
- 15 Exodus 19:9; Matthew 17:5; Exodus 19:16; 2 Chronicles 6:1
- 16 Exodus 16:10; Numbers 16:42; Ezekiel 1:28; Leviticus 9:23; Numbers 14:10
- 17 Hebrews 12:29; Deuteronomy 4:24; Exodus 3:2; Hebrews 12:18; Deuteronomy 4:36
- 18 Deuteronomy 9:9; Deuteronomy 10:10; Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 9:18; Deuteronomy 9:25
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
For they declare that the twelve sons of Jacob, from whom also sprung twelve tribes,-- the breastplate of the high priest, which bore twelve precious stones and twelve little bells, --the twelve stones which were placed by Moses at the foot of the mountain, --the same number which was placed by Joshua in the river, and again, on the other …
A candid mind, if I may so speak, cannot but be anxious, for example, to ascertain what is meant by the fact that Moses and Elijah, and our Lord Himself, all fasted for forty days. And except by knowledge of and reflection upon the number, the difficulty of explaining the figure involved in this action cannot be got over.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
Moses, of a truth, was the first to abide fasting with God for forty days and again for another forty, and thus doubtless to afflict himself with hunger on the Sabbaths although the law forbade self-affliction on the Sabbath.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 9 (1899)