18. 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.
19. They said to Moses, “If you speak to us, we will listen; but we are afraid that if God speaks to us, we will die.”
20. 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.”
21. But the people continued to stand a long way off, and only Moses went near the dark cloud where God was.
22. The Lord commanded Moses to say to the Israelites: “You have seen how I, the Lord, have spoken to you from heaven.