Exodus 34

New 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. ^s2Be 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 must be seen anywhere on the mountain. Even the flocks and herds are not to graze in front of that mountain.” ^t

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 Yahweh. ⁶Then the Lord passed in front of him and proclaimed:

Yahweh—Yahweh is a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and rich in faithful love and truth, ^u7maintaining faithful love to a thousand generations, forgiving wrongdoing, rebellion, and sin. ^vBut He will not leave the guilty ^wunpunished, bringing the consequences of the fathers’ wrongdoing on the children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generation.

⁸Moses immediately bowed down to the ground and worshiped. ⁹Then he said, “My Lord, if I have indeed found favor in Your sight, my Lord, please go with us. Even though this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our wrongdoing and sin, and accept us as Your own possession.” ^x

Covenant Obligations

¹⁰And the Lord responded: “Look, I am making a covenant. I will perform wonders in the presence of all your people ^ythat have never been done ^zin all the 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. ^a11Observe what I command you today. I am going to drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, ^band 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. ^c13Instead, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, and chop down their Asherah poles. ^d14You are never to bow down to another god because Yahweh, being jealous ^eby nature, ^fis 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. ^g16Then 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. ^h

¹⁷“Do not make cast images ⁱof 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 ^jas I commanded you. For you came out of Egypt in the month of Abib. ^k

¹⁹“The firstborn ^lmale from every womb belongs to Me, including all your male ^mnlivestock, the firstborn of cattle or sheep. ²⁰You must redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a sheep, but if you do not redeem it, break its neck. ^oYou 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 ^pon 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 ^qat the turn of the agricultural year. ²³Three times a year ^rall your males are to appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel. ²⁴For I will drive out nations ^sbefore you and enlarge your territory. ^tNo one will covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the Lord your God.

²⁵“Do not present ^uthe blood for My sacrifice with anything leavened. The sacrifice of the Passover Festival must not remain until morning. ^v

²⁶“Bring the best firstfruits ^wof 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 ^xdown these words, for I have made a covenant with you and with Israel based on these words.”

²⁸Moses was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. He wrote the Ten Commandments, ^ythe words of the covenant, on the tablets.

Moses’ 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. ^za30When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face shone! ^bThey 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, ^c35and the Israelites would see that Moses’ face ^dwas radiant. Then Moses would put the veil over his face again until he went to speak with the Lord.