Just as the inhabitants of the earth were alarmed at the revelation,
and believed the end of all time had arrived, so too did the earth.
She thought the resurrection of the dead was about to take place,
and she would have to account for the blood of the slain that she
had absorbed, and for the bodies of the murdered whom she
covered. The earth was not calmed until she heard the first words
of the Decalogue. [199]

Although phenomena were perceptible on Mount Sinai in the
morning, still God did not reveal Himself to the people until noon.
For owing to the brevity of the summer nights, and the
pleasantness of the morning sleep in summer, the people were still
asleep when God had descended upon Mount Sinai. Moses betook
himself to the encampment and awakened them with these words:
"Arise from your sleep, the bridegroom is at hand, and is waiting
to lead his bride under the marriage-canopy." Moses, at the head of
the procession, hereupon brought the nation to its bridegroom,
God, to Sinai, himself going up the mountain. [200] He said to
God: "Announce Thy words, Thy children are ready to obey them."
These words of Moses rang out near and far, for on the occasion,
his voice, when he repeated the words of God to the people, had as
much power as the Divine voice that he heard. [201]

It was not indeed quite of their own free will that Israel declared
themselves ready to accept the Torah, for when the whole nation,
in two divisions, men and women, approached Sinai, God lifted up
this mountain and held it over the heads of the people like a
basket, saying to them: "If you accept the Torah, it is well,
otherwise you will find you grave under this mountain." They all