Exodus 34
34
New Stone Tablets
1The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.#Ex 32:19; 34:28; Dt 10:2,4 2Be prepared by morning. Come up Mount Sinai in the morning and stand before me on the mountaintop. 3No one may go up with you; in fact, no one should be seen anywhere on the mountain. Even the flocks and herds are not to graze in front of that mountain.”#Ex 19:12–13,20–21
4Moses cut two stone tablets like the first ones. He got up early in the morning, and taking the two stone tablets in his hand, he climbed Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded him.
5The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and proclaimed his name, “the Lord.” 6The Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed:
The Lord — the Lord is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and abounding in faithful love and truth,#Nm 14:18; Neh 9:17; Ps 86:15; 103:8; 108:4; Jl 2:13; Rm 2:4 7maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, rebellion, and sin.#Ex 20:6; Ps 103:3; 130:4; Dn 9:9; 1Jn 1:9 But he will not leave the guilty#Jos 24:19; Jb 10:14; Nah 1:3 unpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ iniquity on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.
8Moses immediately knelt low on the ground and worshiped. 9Then he said, “My Lord, if I have indeed found favor with you, my Lord, please go with us (even though this is a stiff-necked people), forgive our iniquity and our sin, and accept us as your own possession.”#Ex 33:15–16; Ps 33:12; 94:14
Covenant Obligations
10And the Lord responded, “Look, I am making a covenant. In the presence of all your people I will perform wonders that have never been done#34:10 Lit created in the whole earth or in any nation. All the people you live among will see the Lord’s work, for what I am doing with you is awe-inspiring.#Dt 4:32; 5:2; Ps 77:14; 145:6 11Observe what I command you today. I am going to drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hethites, Perizzites, Hivites,#34:11 DSS, Sam, LXX add Girgashites and Jebusites. 12Be careful not to make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land that you are going to enter; otherwise, they will become a snare among you.#Ex 23:32–33; 33:2 13Instead, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, and chop down their Asherah poles.#Ex 23:24; Dt 12:3; 2Kg 18:4; 2Ch 34:3–4 14Because the Lord is jealous#Ex 20:3,5; Dt 4:24 for his reputation, you are never to bow down to another god.#34:14 Or the Lord — his name is Jealous or the Lord, being jealous by nature He is a jealous God.
15“Do not make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land, or else when they prostitute themselves with their gods and sacrifice to their gods, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices.#Nm 25:2; Jdg 2:17; 1Co 8:4,7,10 16Then you will take some of their daughters as brides for your sons. Their daughters will prostitute themselves with their gods and cause your sons to prostitute themselves with their gods.#Dt 7:3; 1Kg 11:2,4; Ezr 9:2; Neh 13:25
17“Do not make cast images#Ex 32:8; Lv 19:14 of gods for yourselves.
18“Observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. You are to eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib,#34:18 March–April; called Nisan in the post-exilic period; Neh 2:1; Est 3:7 as I commanded you, for you came out of Egypt in the month of Abib.#Ex 12:15; 13:4
19“The firstborn#Ex 13:2; 22:29 male from every womb belongs to me, including all your male#34:19 LXX, Theod, Vg, Tg read males#34:19 Hb obscure livestock, the firstborn of cattle or sheep. 20You may redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a sheep, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck.#Ex 13:13,15; 23:15; Dt 16:16 You must redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
21“You are to labor six days but you must rest#Ex 20:9; Lk 13:14 on the seventh day; you must even rest during plowing and harvesting times.
22“Observe the Festival of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering#34:22 The Festival of Ingathering is called Festival of Shelters elsewhere; Lv 23:34–36. at the turn of the agricultural year. 23Three times a year#Ex 23:14 all your males are to appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. 24For I will drive out nations#Ex 33:2; Ps 78:55 before you and enlarge your territory.#Dt 12:20; 19:8 No one will covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the Lord your God.
25“Do not present#34:25 Lit slaughter the blood for my sacrifice with anything leavened. The sacrifice of the Passover Festival must not remain until morning.#Ex 12:10; 23:18
26“Bring the best firstfruits#Ex 23:19; Dt 26:2 of your land to the house of the Lord your God.
“You must not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
27The Lord also said to Moses, “Write#Ex 17:14; 24:4 down these words, for I have made a covenant with you and with Israel based on these words.”
28Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did not eat food or drink water. He wrote the Ten Commandments,#Ex 24:18; 31:18; Dt 4:13; 10:2,4 the words of the covenant, on the tablets.
Moses’s Radiant Face
29As Moses descended from Mount Sinai — with the two tablets of the testimony in his hands as he descended the mountain — he did not realize that the skin of his face shone as a result of his speaking with the Lord.#34:29 Lit with him#Ex 32:15 30When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone!#Ps 34:5; Mt 17:2; 2Co 3:7,13 They were afraid to come near him. 31But Moses called out to them, so Aaron and all the leaders of the community returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. 32Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he commanded them to do everything the Lord had told him on Mount Sinai. 33When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. 34But whenever Moses went before the Lord to speak with him, he would remove the veil until he came out. After he came out, he would tell the Israelites what he had been commanded,#Ex 24:3; 2Co 3:13–16 35and the Israelites would see that Moses’s face#34:35 Lit see Moses’s face, that the skin of his face was radiant. Then Moses would put the veil over his face again until he went to speak with the Lord.
Currently Selected:
Exodus 34: CSB
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Exodus 34
34
The Second Set of Stone Tablets
(Deut 10.1–5)
1The LORD said to Moses, “Cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. 2Be ready tomorrow morning, and come up Mount Sinai to meet me there at the top. 3No one is to come up with you; no one is to be seen on any part of the mountain; and no sheep or cattle are to graze at the foot of the mountain.” 4So Moses cut two more stone tablets, and early the next morning he carried them up Mount Sinai, just as the LORD had commanded.
5The LORD came down in a cloud, stood with him there, and pronounced his holy name, the LORD.#34.5 the LORD: See 3.14. 6#Ex 20.5–6; Num 14.18; Deut 5.9–10; 7.9–10The LORD then passed in front of him and called out, “I, the LORD, am a God who is full of compassion and pity, who is not easily angered and who shows great love and faithfulness. 7I keep my promise for thousands of generations#34.7 thousands of generations; or thousands. and forgive evil and sin; but I will not fail to punish children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation for the sins of their parents.”
8Moses quickly bowed down to the ground and worshipped. 9He said, “Lord, if you really are pleased with me, I ask you to go with us. These people are stubborn, but forgive our evil and our sin, and accept us as your own people.”
The Covenant is Renewed
(Ex 23.14–19; Deut 7.1–5; 16.1–17)
10The LORD said to Moses, “I now make a covenant with the people of Israel. In their presence I will do great things such as have never been done anywhere on earth among any of the nations. All the people will see what great things I, the LORD, can do, because I am going to do an awesome thing for you. 11Obey the laws that I am giving you today. I will drive out the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, as you advance. 12Do not make any treaties with the people of the country into which you are going, because this could be a fatal trap for you. 13#Deut 16.21Instead, tear down their altars, destroy their sacred pillars, and cut down the symbols of their goddess Asherah.
14“Do not worship any other god, because I, the LORD, tolerate no rivals. 15Do not make any treaties with the people of the country, because when they worship their pagan gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you to join them, and you will be tempted to eat the food they offer to their gods. 16Your sons might marry those foreign women, who would lead them to be unfaithful to me and to worship their pagan gods.
17 #
Ex 20.4; Lev 19.4; Deut 5.8; 27.15 “Do not make and worship gods of metal.
18 #
Ex 12.14–20; Lev 23.6–8; Num 28.16–25 “Keep the Festival of Unleavened Bread. As I have commanded you, eat unleavened bread for seven days in the month of Abib, because it was in that month that you left Egypt.
19 #
Ex 13.2
“Every firstborn son and firstborn male domestic animal belongs to me, 20#Ex 13.13but you are to buy back every firstborn donkey by offering a lamb in its place. If you do not buy it back, break its neck. Buy back every firstborn son.
“No one is to appear before me without an offering.
21 #
Ex 20.9–10; 23.12; 31.15; 35.2; Lev 23.3; Deut 5.13–14 “You have six days in which to do your work, but do not work on the seventh day, not even during ploughing time or harvest.
22 #
Lev 23.15–21; 23.39–43; Num 28.26–31 “Keep the Harvest Festival when you begin to harvest the first crop of your wheat, and keep the Festival of Shelters in the autumn when you gather your fruit.
23“Three times a year all your men must come to worship me, the LORD, the God of Israel. 24After I have driven out the nations before you and extended your territory, no one will try to conquer your country during the three festivals.
25 #
Ex 12.10
“Do not offer bread made with yeast when you sacrifice an animal to me. Do not keep until the following morning any part of the animal killed at the Passover Festival.
26 #
Deut 24.21; 26.2 “Each year bring to the house of the LORD the first corn that you harvest.
“Do not cook a young sheep or goat in its mother's milk.”
27The LORD said to Moses, “Write these words down, because it is on the basis of these words that I am making a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28Moses stayed there with the LORD forty days and nights, eating and drinking nothing. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant — the Ten Commandments.
Moses Goes Down from Mount Sinai
29 #
2 Cor 3.7–16
When Moses went down from Mount Sinai carrying the Ten Commandments, his face was shining because he had been speaking with the LORD; but he did not know it. 30Aaron and all the people looked at Moses and saw that his face was shining, and they were afraid to go near him. 31But Moses called them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the community went to him, and Moses spoke to them. 32After that, all the people of Israel gathered round him, and Moses gave them all the laws that the LORD had given him on Mount Sinai. 33When Moses had finished speaking to them, he covered his face with a veil. 34Whenever Moses went into the Tent of the LORD's presence to speak to the LORD, he took the veil off. When he came out, he would tell the people of Israel everything that he had been commanded to say, 35and they would see that his face was shining. Then he would put the veil back on until the next time he went to speak to the LORD.
Currently Selected:
:
Highlight
Share
Copy
Want to have your highlights saved across all your devices? Sign up or sign in
Good News Bible with Deuterocanonicals/Apocrypha. Scripture taken from the Good News Bible (r) (Today's English Version Second Edition, UK/British Edition). Copyright © 1992 British & Foreign Bible Society. Used by permission.