Then the <sc>Lordsc> spoke to you from the middle of the fire; you heard speech but you could not see anything &#8211; only a voice was heard.<n id="1" />

<t /><p class="bodytext">When the <sc>Lordsc> heard you, he became angry and made this vow:<n id="1" />

Have a people ever heard the voice of God speaking from the middle of fire, as you yourselves have, and lived to tell about it?

<t /><p class="bodytext">&#8220;The Levites will call out to every Israelite<n id="1" /> with a loud voice:

When the <sc>Lordsc> heard you speaking to me, he<n id="1" /> said to me, &#8220;I have heard what these people have said to you &#8211; they have spoken well.

But now, why should we die, because this intense fire will consume us! If we keep hearing the voice of the <sc>Lordsc> our God we will die!

Who is there from the entire human race<n id="1" /> who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the middle of the fire as we have, and has lived?

<t /><p class="poetry">And this is the blessing<n id="1" /> to Judah. He said,p> <p class="poetry">Listen, O <sc>Lordsc>, to Judah&#8217;s voice,p> <p class="poetry">and bring him to his people.p> <p class="poetry">May his power be great,p> <p class="poetry">and may you help him against his foes.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">The <sc>Lordsc> said these things to your entire assembly at the mountain from the middle of the fire, the cloud, and the darkness with a loud voice, and that was all he said.<n id="1" /> Then he inscribed the words<n id="2" /> on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

This accords with what happened at Horeb in the day of the assembly. You asked the <sc>Lordsc> your God: &#8220;Please do not make us hear the voice of the <sc>Lordsc> our<n id="1" /> God any more or see this great fire any more lest we die.&#8221;