Hebrews 12:18-29 uses both Exodus 19-20 and Deuteronomy 4-5 to describe Israel's fearful response to God's presence on Mount Sinai/Horeb, while appearing to contradict their evaluations of that response. This book that the author of Hebrews is using (but not abusing) his sources in order to unpack both the continuity and the discontinuity between Israel's experience in God's presence and that of his readers.