Exodus 33:1–34:35

The Orders Israel to Leave Mount Sinai

33^*The Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought out of Egypt, and go to the land that I promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob and to their descendants. ²I will send an angel to guide you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ³You are going to a rich and fertile land. But I will not go with you myself, because you are a stubborn people, and I might destroy you on the way.”

⁴When the people heard this, they began to mourn and did not wear jewellery any more. ⁵For the Lord had commanded Moses to say to them, “You are a stubborn people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I would completely destroy you. Now take off your jewellery, and I will decide what to do with you.” ⁶So after they left Mount Sinai, the people of Israel no longer wore jewellery.

The Tent of the ’s Presence

⁷Whenever the people of Israel set up camp, Moses would take the sacred Tent and put it up some distance away from the camp. It was called the Tent of the Lord’s presence, and anyone who wanted to consult the Lord would go out to it. ⁸Whenever Moses went out there, the people would stand at the door of their tents and watch Moses until he entered it. ⁹After Moses had gone in, the pillar of cloud would come down and stay at the door of the Tent, and the Lord would speak to Moses from the cloud. ¹⁰As soon as the people saw the pillar of cloud at the door of the Tent, they would bow down. ¹¹The Lord would speak with Moses face to face, just as someone speaks with a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp. But the young man who was his helper, Joshua son of Nun, stayed in the Tent.

¹²Moses said to the Lord, “It is true that you have told me to lead these people to that land, but you did not tell me whom you would send with me. You have said that you know me well and are pleased with me. ¹³Now if you are, tell me your plans, so that I may serve you and continue to please you. Remember also that you have chosen this nation to be your own.”

¹⁴The Lord said, “I will go with you, and I will give you victory.”

¹⁵Moses replied, “If you do not go with us, don’t make us leave this place. ¹⁶How will anyone know that you are pleased with your people and with me if you do not go with us? Your presence with us will distinguish us from any other people on earth.”

¹⁷The Lord said to Moses, “I will do just as you have asked, because I know you very well and I am pleased with you.”

¹⁸Then Moses requested, “Please, let me see the dazzling light of your presence.”

^19*The Lord answered, “I will make all my splendour pass before you and in your presence I will pronounce my sacred name. I am the Lord, and I show compassion and pity on those I choose. ²⁰I will not let you see my face, because no one can see me and stay alive, ²¹but here is a place beside me where you can stand on a rock. ²²When the dazzling light of my presence passes by, I will put you in an opening in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³Then I will take my hand away, and you will see my back but not my face.”

The Second Set of Stone Tablets

34The 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.^{i 6*}The 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. ^7*I keep my promise for thousands of generations^j 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

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*Instead, 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*“Do not make and worship gods of metal.

^18*“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*“Every firstborn son and firstborn male domestic animal belongs to me, ^20*but 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*“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*“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*“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*“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 40 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*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. ^30*Aaron and all the people looked at Moses and saw that his face was shining, and they were afraid to go near him. ^31*But Moses called them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the community went to him, and Moses spoke to them. ^32*After 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. ^33*When Moses had finished speaking to them, he covered his face with a veil. ^34*Whenever 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, ^35*and 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.