All 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.

The LORD came down on the top of Mount Sinai and called Moses to the top of the mountain. Moses went up

LORD, when you left the mountains of Seir, when you came out of the region of Edom, the earth shook, and rain fell from the sky. Yes, water poured down from the clouds.

The mountains quaked before the LORD of Sinai, before the LORD, the God of Israel.

God is coming again from Edom; the holy God is coming from the hills of Paran. His splendor covers the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise.

O God, when you led your people, when you marched across the desert,

With his many thousands of mighty chariots the Lord comes from Sinai into the holy place.

While I was looking, thrones were put in place. One who had been living forever sat down on one of the thrones. His clothes were white as snow, and his hair was like pure wool. His throne, mounted on fiery wheels, was blazing with fire,

You are the ones who received God's law, that was handed down by angels---yet you have not obeyed it!"

What, then, was the purpose of the Law? It was added in order to show what wrongdoing is, and it was meant to last until the coming of Abraham's descendant, to whom the promise was made. The Law was handed down by angels, with a man acting as a go-between.

and he will give relief to you who suffer and to us as well. He will do this when the Lord Jesus appears from heaven with his mighty angels,

The message given to our ancestors by the angels was shown to be true, and those who did not follow it or obey it received the punishment they deserved.

It was Enoch, the seventh direct descendant from Adam, who long ago prophesied this about them: "The Lord will come with many thousands of his holy angels

Again I looked, and I heard angels, thousands and millions of them! They stood around the throne, the four living creatures, and the elders,

"These are the commandments the LORD gave to all of you when you were gathered at the mountain. When he spoke with a mighty voice from the fire and from the thick clouds, he gave these commandments and no others. Then he wrote them on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

The Law was carved in letters on stone tablets, and God's glory appeared when it was given. Even though the brightness on Moses' face was fading, it was so strong that the people of Israel could not keep their eyes fixed on him. If the Law, which brings death when it is in force, came with such glory,

The system which brings condemnation was glorious; how much more glorious is the activity which brings salvation!

Those who depend on obeying the Law live under a curse. For the scripture says, "Whoever does not always obey everything that is written in the book of the Law is under God's curse!"

because they could not bear the order which said, "If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned to death."