¹⁸ Mount Sinai was covered with smoke,^(A) because the Lord descended on it in fire.^(B) The smoke billowed up from it like smoke from a furnace,^(C) and the whole mountain^[a] trembled^(D) violently.

¹⁵ Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law^(A) in his hands.^(B) They were inscribed^(C) on both sides, front and back. ¹⁶ The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.^(D)

¹⁷ When Joshua^(E) heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “There is the sound of war in the camp.”

¹⁸ Moses replied:

¹⁹ When Moses approached the camp and saw the calf^(F) and the dancing,^(G) his anger burned^(H) and he threw the tablets out of his hands, breaking them to pieces^(I) at the foot of the mountain.