Exodus 34

The Second Set of Commandments

(Deuteronomy 10.1-5)

1One day the Lord said to Moses, “Cut two flat stones like the first ones I made, and I will write on them the same commandments that were on the two you broke. 2Be ready tomorrow morning to come up Mount Sinai and meet me at the top. 3No one is to come with you or to be on the mountain at all. Don't even let the sheep and cattle graze at the foot of the mountain.” 4So Moses cut two flat stones like the first ones, and early the next morning he carried them to the top of Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded.

5The Lord God came down in a cloud and stood beside Moses there on the mountain. God spoke his holy name, “the Lord.”#34.5 the Lord: See the note at 3.14,15. 6#Ex 20.5,6; Nu 14.18; Dt 5.9,10; 7.9,10. Then he passed in front of Moses and called out, “I am the Lord God. I am merciful and very patient with my people. I show great love, and I can be trusted. 7I keep my promises to my people forever, but I also punish anyone who sins. When people sin, I punish them and their children, and also their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”

8Moses quickly bowed down to the ground and worshiped the Lord. 9He prayed, “Lord, if you really are pleased with me, I pray that you will go with us. It is true that these people are sinful and rebellious, but forgive our sin and let us be your people.”

A Promise and Its Demands

(Exodus 23.14-19; Deuteronomy 7.1-5; 16.1-17)

10The Lord said:

I promise to perform miracles for you that have never been seen anywhere on earth. Neighboring nations will stand in fear and know that I was the one who did these marvelous things. 11I will force out the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, but you must do what I command you today. 12Don't make treaties with any of those people. If you do, it will be like falling into a trap. 13#Dt 16.21. Instead, you must destroy their altars and tear down the sacred poles#34.13 sacred poles: Or “trees,” used as symbols of Asherah, the goddess of fertility. they use in the worship of the goddess Asherah. 14I demand your complete loyalty—you must not worship any other god! 15Don't make treaties with the people there, or you will soon find yourselves worshiping their gods and taking part in their sacrificial meals. 16Your men will even marry their women and be influenced to worship their gods.

17 # Ex 20.4; Lv 19.4; Dt 5.8; 27.14-26. Don't make metal images of gods.

18 # Ex 12.14-20; Lv 23.6-8; Nu 28.16-25. Don't fail to observe the Festival of Thin Bread in the month of Abib.#34.18 Abib: See the note at 12.2. Obey me and eat bread without yeast for seven days during Abib, because that is the month you left Egypt.

19 # Ex 13.2. The first-born males of your families and of your flocks and herds belong to me.

20 # Ex 13.13. You can save the life of a first-born donkey#34.20 donkey: See the note at 13.13. by sacrificing a lamb; if you don't, you must break the donkey's neck. You must save every first-born son.

Bring an offering every time you come to worship.

21 # Ex 20.9,10; 23.12; 31.14,15; 35.2; Lv 23.3; Dt 5.13,14. Work for six days and rest on the seventh day, even during the seasons for plowing and harvesting. 22#Lv 23.15-21; Nu 28.26-31; Lv 23.39-43. Celebrate the Harvest Festival#34.22 Harvest Festival: See the note at 23.16. each spring when you start harvesting your wheat, and celebrate the Festival of Shelters#34.22 Festival of Shelters: See the note at 23.16. each autumn when you pick your fruit.

23Your men must come to worship me three times a year, because I am the Lord God of Israel. 24As you advance, I will force the nations out of your land and enlarge your borders. Then no one will try to take your property when you come to worship me these three times each year.

25 # Ex 12.10. When you sacrifice an animal on the altar, don't offer bread made with yeast. And don't save any part of the Passover meal for the next day.

26 # Dt 26.2; Dt 14.21. I am the Lord your God, and you must bring the first part of your harvest to the place of worship.

Don't boil a young goat in its mother's milk.

27The Lord told Moses to put these laws in writing, as part of his agreement with Israel. 28Moses stayed on the mountain with the Lord for 40 days and nights, without eating or drinking. And he wrote down the Ten Commandments, the most important part of God's agreement with his people.

Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai

29 # 2 Co 3.7-16. Moses came down from Mount Sinai, carrying the Ten Commandments. His face was shining brightly because the Lord had been speaking to him. But Moses did not know at first that his face was shining. 30When Aaron and the others looked at Moses, they saw this, and they were afraid to go near him. 31Moses called out for Aaron and the leaders to come to him, and he spoke with them. 32Then the rest of the people of Israel gathered around Moses, and he gave them the laws that the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.

33The face of Moses kept shining, and after he had spoken with the people, he covered his face with a veil. 34Moses would always remove the veil when he went into the sacred tent to speak with the Lord. And when he came out, he would tell the people everything the Lord had told him to say. 35They could see that his face was still shining. So after he had spoken with them, he would put the veil back on and leave it on until the next time he went to speak with the Lord.

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Exodus 34

The Second Tables of Stone

(Deuteronomy 10.1-5)

1And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest. 2And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Si´nai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. 3And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. 4And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Si´nai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone. 5And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord. 6#Exod 20.5,6; Num 14.18; Deut 5.9,10; 7.9,10. And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, 7keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation. 8And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped. 9And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.

10And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the Lord: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.

Israel Warned of the Idolatry of Canaan

(Deuteronomy 7.1-5)

11Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Per´izzite, and the Hivite, and the Jeb´usite. 12Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee: 13#Deut 16.21. but ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves: 14for thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. 15Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice; 16and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.

17 # Exod 20.4; Lev 19.4; Deut 5.8; 27.15. Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

The Three Appointed Feasts

(Exodus 23.14-19; Deuteronomy 16.1-17)

18 # Exod 12.14-20; Lev 23.6-8; Num 28.16-25. The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt. 19#Exod 13.2. All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male. 20#Exod 13.13. But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.

21 # Exod 20.9,10; 23.12; 31.15; 35.2; Lev 23.3; Deut 5.13,14. Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest. 22#Lev 23.15-21; Num 28.26-31; Lev 23.39-43. And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end. 23Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. 24For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year.

25 # Exod 12.10. Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning. 26#Deut 26.2; Deut 14.21. The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's milk.

Moses and the Tables of the Law

27And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel. 28And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.#34.28 Heb. words.

29 # 2 Cor 3.7-16. And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Si´nai with the two tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. 30And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him. 31And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them. 32And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him in mount Si´nai. 33And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. 34But 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 spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded. 35And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face shone: and Moses put the veil upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

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