At Mount Sinai the LORD our God made a covenant,

The LORD said to Moses, "I will come to you in a thick cloud, so that the people will hear me speaking with you and will believe you from now on." Moses told the LORD what the people had answered,

On the morning of the third day there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud appeared on the mountain, and a very loud trumpet blast was heard. All the people in the camp trembled with fear.

When the people heard the thunder and the trumpet blast and saw the lightning and the smoking mountain, they trembled with fear and stood a long way off.

You have not come, as the people of Israel came, to what you can feel, to Mount Sinai with its blazing fire, the darkness and the gloom, the storm,

the blast of a trumpet, and the sound of a voice. When the people heard the voice, they begged not to hear another word,

Be careful, then, and do not refuse to hear him who speaks. Those who refused to hear the one who gave the divine message on earth did not escape. How much less shall we escape, then, if we turn away from the one who speaks from heaven!

If only they would always feel this way! If only they would always honor me and obey all my commands, so that everything would go well with them and their descendants forever.

Moses replied, "Don't be afraid; God has only come to test you and make you keep on obeying him, so that you will not sin."

Obey the LORD and serve him faithfully with all your heart. Remember the great things he has done for you.

After all this, there is only one thing to say: Have reverence for God, and obey his commands, because this is all that we were created for.

from one generation to another he shows mercy to those who honor him.

Then there came from the throne the sound of a voice, saying, "Praise our God, all his servants and all people, both great and small, who have reverence for him!"