"In the third month, when the children of Israel were gone forth out of the land of Egypt, the same day came they into the wilderness of Sinai, . . . and there Israel camped before the Mount. . . .
"And it came to pass on the third day that there were thunders and lightnings, and a thick cloud upon the Mount, and the voice of the tempest exceedingly loud, so that all the people that was in the camp trembled. . . .
"And Mount Sinai was altogether on a smoke, because the Lord descended upon it in fire, and the smoke thereof ascended as the smoke of a furnace, and the whole Mount quaked greatly. And when the voice of the tempest sounded long, and waxed louder and louder, Moses spake, and God answered him by a voice.
"And the Lord came down upon the Mount, and called Moses up to the top of the Mount, and Moses went up."[58:1]
The Lord there communed with him, and "he gave unto Moses . . . . two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God."[58:2]
When Moses came down from off the Mount, he found the children of Israel dancing around a golden calf, which his brother Aaron had made, and, as his "anger waxed hot," he cast the tables of stone on the ground, and broke them.[58:3] Moses again saw the Lord on the Mount, however, and received two more tables of stone.[58:4] When he came down this time from off Mount Sinai, "the skin of his face did shine."[58:5]
These two tables of stone contained the Ten Commandments,[59:1] so it is said, which the Jews and Christians of the present day are supposed to take for their standard.
They are, in substance, as follows:
| 1— | To have no other God but Jehovah. |
| 2— | To make no image for purpose of worship. |
| 3— | Not to take Jehovah's name in vain. |
| 4— | Not to work on the Sabbath-day. |
| 5— | To honor their parents. |
| 6— | Not to kill. |
| 7— | Not to commit adultery. |
| 8— | Not to steal. |
| 9— | Not to bear false witness against a neighbor. |
| 10— | Not to covet.[59:2] |