Exodus 34

1 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon the tables the words that were on the first tables, which thou brakest.2 And be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me on the top of the mount.3 And 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.4 And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as Jehovah had commanded him, and took in his hand two tables of stone.5 And Jehovah descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of Jehovah.6 And Jehovah passed by before him, and proclaimed, Jehovah, Jehovah, a God merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth,7 keeping lovingkindness 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, upon the third and upon the fourth generation.8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.9 And he said, If now I have found favor in thy sight, O Lord, let the Lord, I pray thee, go in the midst of us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.

10 And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been wrought in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of Jehovah; for it is a terrible thing that I do with thee.11 Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.12 Take 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 but ye shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and ye shall cut down their Asherim;14 for thou shalt worship no other god: for Jehovah, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:15 lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they play the harlot after their gods, and sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee and thou eat of his sacrifice;16 and thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters play the harlot after their gods, and make thy sons play the harlot after their gods.17 Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

18 The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.19 All that openeth the womb is mine; and all thy cattle that is male, the firstlings of cow and sheep.20 And the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou wilt not redeem it, then thou shalt break its neck. All the first-born of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.

21 Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in plowing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.22 And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, even of the first-fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.23 Three times in the year shall all thy males appear before the Lord Jehovah, the God of Israel.24 For I will cast out nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou goest up to appear before Jehovah thy God three times in the year.

25 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.26 The first of the first-fruits of thy ground thou shalt bring unto the house of Jehovah thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.27 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.28 And he was there with Jehovah 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.

29 And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of the testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses knew not that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him.30 And 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.31 And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses spake to them.32 And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that Jehovah had spoken with him in mount Sinai.33 And when Moses had done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.34 But when Moses went in before Jehovah 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.35 And 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.

EXODUS 34

The Second Set //of Commandments

(Deuteronomy 10.1-5)

1 One 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. 2 Be ready tomorrow morning to come up Mount Sinai and meet me at the top. 3 No 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.”

4 So 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.
5 The [Lord] God came down in a cloud and stood beside Moses there on the mountain. God spoke his holy name, “the [Lord].”t 6 t 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.

7 I 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.”
8 Moses quickly bowed down to the ground and worshiped the [Lord].

9 He 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)

10 The [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. 11 I 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. 12 Don't make treaties with any of those people. If you do, it will be like falling into a trap. 13 t Instead, you must destroy their altars and tear down the sacred polest they use in the worship of the goddess Asherah. 14 I demand your complete loyalty—you must not worship any other god! 15 Don't make treaties with the people there, or you will soon find yourselves worshiping their gods and taking part in their sacrificial meals.

16 Your men will even marry their women and be influenced to worship their gods.

17  t Don't make metal images of gods.

18  t Don't fail to observe the Festival of Thin Bread in the month of Abib.t Obey me and eat bread without yeast for seven days during Abib, because that is the month you left Egypt.

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

20  t You can save the life of a first-born donkeyt 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  t Work for six days and rest on the seventh day, even during the seasons for plowing and harvesting.

22 t Celebrate the Harvest Festivalt each spring when you start harvesting your wheat, and celebrate the Festival of Shelterst each autumn when you pick your fruit.
23 Your men must come to worship me three times a year, because I am the [Lord] God of Israel.

24 As 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  t 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  t 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.
27 The [Lord] told Moses to put these laws in writing, as part of his agreement with Israel.

28 Moses 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

32 Then 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.
33 The face of Moses kept shining, and after he had spoken with the people, he covered his face with a veil. 34 Moses 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. 35 They 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].