Exodus 19:9-16

9The Lord said to Moses, “I am going to come to you in a dense cloud, so that the people will hear when I speak with you and will always believe you.” Moses reported the people’s words to the Lord,

10and the Lord told Moses, “Go to the people and consecrate them today and tomorrow. They must wash their clothes

11and be prepared by the third day, for on the third day the Lord will come down on Mount Sinai in the sight of all the people.

12Put boundaries for the people all around the mountain and say: Be careful that you don’t go up on the mountain or touch its base. Anyone who touches the mountain must be put to death.

13No hand may touch him; instead he will be stoned or shot with arrows and not live, whether animal or human. When the ram’s horn sounds a long blast, they may go up the mountain.”

14Then Moses came down from the mountain to the people and consecrated them, and they washed their clothes.

15He said to the people, “Be prepared by the third day. Do not have sexual relations with women.”

16On the third day, when morning came, there was thunder and lightning, a thick cloud on the mountain, and a very loud blast from a ram’s horn, so that all the people in the camp shuddered.