18 All of the people could hear and see the thunder and the lightning, the sound of the horn, and the mountain smoking. They trembled when they saw it, and they remained standing at a distance.[ref] 19 They begged Mosheh (Moses), “You be the one to speak to us, and we’ll listen, but don’t let God speak directly to us, in case we die.”

20 “Don’t be afraid,” Mosheh responded, “because God has come to test you so that the fear of him will remain with you so that you all won’t disobey him.” 21 So the people stood at a good distance while Mosheh approached toward the thick darkness where God was.

23 Then when you heard the voice coming out from the darkness and the mountain was blazing with fire, then all the heads of your tribes and the elders approached me 24 and said, “Listen, our god Yahweh demonstrated his greatness and power when we heard him speak from the fire. Today, we’ve realised that God talks to people, and that they can stay alive. 25 However, we’re still afraid that we’ll die—getting burnt up in that intense fire if we continue hearing our god Yahweh’s voice, 26 because when has anybody else ever heard the voice of the living god speak to them from the middle of a blazing fire and they still lived? 27 You Mosheh (Moses), go and listen to everything that our god Yahweh says, and tell us everything that he tells you, and we’ll listen to that and obey it.”

28 Yahweh heard you all say that to me, and told me, ‘I’ve heard what they said to you and it’s a good idea. 29 If only they were sincere in saying that they’d honour me and always follow all my instructions so that everything would go well for them and their descendants forever. 30 Go and tell them to return to their tents, 31 but then come back up here and I’ll give you all the instructions and rules and regulations for you to teach them, so they can follow them in the land that I’m giving them to take possession of.’

32 Make sure that you do everything that your god Yahweh has commanded—don’t deviate from any of them. 33 Follow all the instructions from your god Yahweh, and then you’ll all live and things will go well and you’ll all be able to occupy that land for a long time.