A reading from the Book of Exodus.

Then he said to Moses,

Come up to the Lord, you and Aaron, Nadab and Dubaihu,

and 70 of the elders of Israel, and worship from afar.

Moses alone shall come near to the Lord,

but the others shall not come near, and the people

shall not come up with Him.

Moses came and told the people all the words of the Lord and all the rules, and all the

people answered with one voice and said, all the words that the Lord has spoken, we will do.

And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord.

He rose early in the morning and built an altar at the foot of the mountain

and twelve pillars according to the twelve tribes of Israel.

And he sent young men of the people of Israel

who offered burnt offerings and sacrificed peace offerings of oxen to the Lord. And Moses took

half of the blood and put it in basins and half of the blood he threw against the altar. Then he took the book of the covenant and read it in the hearing of the people.

And they said, all that the Lord has spoken, we will do and we will be obedient.

And Moses took the blood and threw it on the people,

and said, Behold, the blood of the covenant

that the Lord has made with you in accordance with all these words.

Then Moses and Aaron, Nadab, and Abihu,

and 70 of the elders of Israel went up, and they saw the God of Israel.

There was under his feet, as it were, a pavement of sapphire stone, like the very heaven for

...