The covenant is ratified, and the procedure is set out step by step: the terms are written down, twelve standing stones are raised for twelve tribes, oxen are sacrificed, half the blood goes on the altar and half is held back. Then the book is read aloud, the people answer, and the second half of the blood is thrown over them. Afterwards seventy elders climb the mountain, see the God of Israel, and eat. The narrator stops to say that nothing happened to them — which is a strange thing to need to say, and nine chapters later the same book will state flatly that no one can see God and live.