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.
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Exodus 34: CSB
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Exodus 34
34
1 THE Lord said to Moses, Cut two tables of stone like the first, and I will write upon these tables the words that were on the first tables, which you broke.
2 Be ready and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain.
3 And no man shall come up with you, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mountain; neither let flocks or herds feed before that mountain.
4 So Moses cut two tables of stone like the first, and he rose up early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand two tables of stone.
5 And the Lord descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the Lord.
6 And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord! the Lord! a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving-kindness and truth,
7 Keeping mercy and loving-kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but Who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children and the children's children, to the third and fourth generation.
8 And Moses made haste to bow his head toward the earth and worshiped.
9 And he said, If now I have found favor and loving-kindness in Your sight, O Lord, let the Lord, I pray You, go in the midst of us, although it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your inheritance.
10 And the Lord said, Behold, I lay down [afresh the terms of the mutual agreement between Israel and Me] a covenant. Before all your people I will do marvels (wonders, miracles) such as have not been wrought or created in all the earth or in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the Lord; for it is a terrible thing [fearful and full of awe] that I will do with you.
11 Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I drive out before you the Amorite, Canaanite, Hittite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite.
12 Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant or mutual agreement with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a snare in the midst of you.
13 But you shall destroy their altars, dash in pieces their pillars (obelisks, images), and cut down their Asherim [symbols of the goddess Asherah];
14 For you shall worship no other god; for the Lord, Whose name is Jealous, is a jealous (impassioned) God,
15 Lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and when they play the harlot after their gods and sacrifice to their gods and one invites you, you eat of his food sacrificed to idols,
16 And you take of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters play the harlot after their gods and make your sons play the harlot after their gods.
17 You shall make for yourselves no molten gods.
18 The Feast of Unleavened Bread you shall keep. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, in the time of the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.
19 All the males that first open the womb among your livestock are Mine, whether ox or sheep.
20 But the firstling of a donkey [an unclean beast] you shall redeem with a lamb or kid, and if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. And none of you shall appear before Me empty-handed.
21 Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest [on the Sabbath].
22 You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year's end.
23 Three times in the year shall all your males appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel.
24 For I will cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man desire [and molest] your land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year.
25 You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover be left until morning.
26 The first of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a kid in his mother's milk.
27 And the Lord said to Moses, Write these words, for after the purpose and character of these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.
28 Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he ate no bread and drank no water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of the Testimony in his hand, he did not know that the skin of his face shone and sent forth beams by reason of his speaking with the Lord.
30 When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and they feared to come near him.
31 But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and [he] talked with them.
32 Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all the Lord had said to him in Mount Sinai.
33 And when Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.
34 But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he took the veil off until he came out. And he came out and told the Israelites what he was commanded.
35 The Israelites saw the face of Moses, how the skin of it shone; and Moses put the veil on his face again until he went in to speak with God.
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