God tells Moses to warn the people away from the mountain.

Away from its base. Away from its slopes. Even the cattle must be kept back. The theophany begins: thunder, lightning, a thick cloud, a trumpet growing louder until the whole camp trembles, smoke rising like the smoke of a furnace, the mountain quaking. The people of Israel, who have just watched God drown Pharaoh’s army on their behalf, who have eaten bread from heaven and drunk water from a rock, stand at the foot of the mountain terrified out of their minds.

They back away. They beg Moses to speak to God for them: “If God speaks to us directly, we will die.”

And God, who has pursued this people across four hundred years of slavery specifically to speak to them directly, honors their terror.