Exodus 24:3-13

3 Therefore Moses came, and told to the people all the words and the dooms of the Lord; and all the people answered with one voice, (and said,) We shall do all the words of the Lord which he hath spoken. (And so Moses came, and told the people all the words and the judgements of the Lord; and all the people answered with one voice, and said, We shall do all that the Lord hath spoken.)
4 Forsooth Moses wrote (down) all the words of the Lord; and he rose early, and builded an altar to the Lord at the roots of the hill, and he builded twelve titles, or stones, by twelve lineages of Israel. (And Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord; and then he rose up early, and built an altar to the Lord at the foot of the mountain, and he set up twelve stones, for the twelve tribes of Israel.)
5 And he sent young men of the sons of Israel (to it), and they offered burnt sacrifices, and peaceable sacrifices to the Lord (and they offered burnt sacrifices, and peace offerings to the Lord), (yea,) twelve calves/two calves.
6 And so Moses took half the part of the blood, and put it into great cups; forsooth he shedded the residue part on the altar. (And Moses took half of the blood, and put it into great bowls, or into great basins; and he threw the rest of it against the altar.)
7 And he took the book of the bond of peace, and read [it], while the people heard; the which said, We shall do all things that the Lord spake, and we shall be obedient. (And he took the Book of the Covenant, and read it, while all the people listened; and they said, We shall do everything that the Lord spoke, and we shall be obedient.)
8 Forsooth Moses took the blood, and sprinkled it on the people, and said, This is the blood of the bond of peace (This is the blood of the covenant), which the Lord covenanted with you on all these words.
9 And (then) Moses, and Aaron, and Nadab, and Abihu, and seventy of the elder men of Israel went up,
10 and saw [the] God of Israel, (and) under his feet, they saw as the work of a sapphire stone, and as heaven when it is clear. (and they saw the God of Israel, and under his feet they saw a pavement made out of sapphire stones, yea, like the heavens when they be clear blue.)
11 And he sent not his hand on the lords of the sons of Israel, that had gone far away (But he did not put his hand upon the leaders of the Israelites, who were there before him); and they saw God, and (then they) ate and drank.
12 Forsooth the Lord said to Moses, Come thou up to me into the hill, and be thou there, and I shall give to thee tables of stone, and the law, and commandments, which I have written, that thou teach them. (And the Lord said to Moses, Come thou up the mountain to me, and be thou here, and I shall give thee the stone tablets on which I have written the Law, yea, the commandments, so that thou can teach them to the people.)
13 [And] Moses and Joshua, his minister, rose, and Moses went up into the hill of God, (And Moses and Joshua, his servant, arose, and Moses went up the mountain to God,)

Exodus 24:3-13 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 24

In this chapter we have an account that Moses was ordered to come up to the Lord alone, Ex 24:1,2, but that before he did go up, he related to the people all the above laws delivered to him, which they promised obedience to, and so a covenant was made between God and the people by sacrifice, and by the sprinkling of blood, Ex 24:3-8, upon which he and Aaron, and his two sons and seventy elders of Israel, went up part of the mountain, and had a vision of God, Ex 24:9-11, when Moses with Joshua was called, and went up higher, until at length he entered into the cloud where the Lord was, and continued forty days and forty nights, Ex 24:12-18.

Copyright © 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.