¹⁸ For you have not come to something that can be touched, and to a burning fire, and to darkness, and to gloom, and to a whirlwind, ¹⁹and to the noise of a trumpet, and to the sound of words which those who heard begged that not another word be spoken to them. ²⁰For they could not endure what was commanded: “If even an animal touches the mountain, it must be stoned.” ²¹And the spectacle was so terrifying that Moses said, “I am terrified and trembling.” ²²But you have come to Mount Zion, and to the city of the living God, to the heavenly Jerusalem, and to tens of thousands of angels, to the festal gathering ²³and assembly of the firstborn who are enrolled in heaven, and to God the judge of all, and to the spirits of righteous people made perfect, ²⁴and to Jesus, the mediator of a new covenant, and ⌞to the sprinkled blood⌟ that speaks better than Abel’s does. ²⁵ Watch out that you do not refuse the one who is speaking! For if those did not escape when they refused the one who warned them on earth, much less will we escape, if we reject the one who warns from heaven, ²⁶whose voice shook the earth at that time, but now he has promised, saying, “Yet once more I will shake not only the earth but also heaven.” ²⁷ Now the phrase “yet once more” indicates the removal of what is shaken, namely, things that have been created, in order that the things that are not shaken may remain. ²⁸Therefore, since we are receiving an unshakable kingdom, let us be thankful, through which let us serve God acceptably, with awe and reverence. ²⁹For indeed our God is a consuming fire.