Exodus 34

The LORD said to Moses, "Cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets, the ones you broke.

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.

NoteThe first set of tablets was smashed by Moses in chapter 32, when he came down and found the people worshiping the gold calf. "Tablets" here are flat slabs of stone, the ordinary writing surface for a permanent public document.

2Be ready in the morning, and in the morning come up Mount Sinai, and stand before me there on the top of the mountain.

2And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount.

3No one is to come up with you, and no one is to be seen anywhere on the mountain. Do not even let the flocks or herds graze in front of that mountain."

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.

4So Moses cut two stone tablets like the first ones. He got up early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, carrying the two stone tablets in his hand.

4And 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 the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.

5The LORD came down in the cloud, stood there with him, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.

5And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.

NoteWhere the text prints LORD in capital letters, the Hebrew has the personal name of Israel's God, four consonants usually written YHWH. Jews came to avoid saying it aloud, reading "the Lord" instead, and English translations follow that custom with the capitals. "Proclaimed the name" means announced who he is, not merely said a name aloud.

6The LORD passed by in front of him and proclaimed, "The LORD, the LORD God, full of mercy and kindness, slow to get angry, and rich in goodness and truth,

6And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,

Note"Goodness and truth" translates two Hebrew words that are hard to carry over. The first covers loyal, generous commitment to someone you are bound to; the second covers reliability, being someone whose word holds. Together they describe steady, dependable faithfulness rather than abstract virtue.

7keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving wrongdoing and rebellion and sin. Yet he will certainly not treat the guilty as innocent. He brings the punishment for the fathers' wrongdoing on the children and grandchildren, to the third and fourth generation."

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.

Note"Keeping mercy for thousands" is ambiguous in Hebrew and in the English: it can mean thousands of people or, more likely given the contrast with "the third and fourth generation," thousands of generations. "He brings the punishment... on the children" uses a Hebrew idiom, literally "visiting" the wrongdoing, the consequences of one generation's acts landing on those who come after.

8Moses quickly bowed his head toward the ground and worshiped.

8And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.

9He said, "If I have now found favor with you, O Lord, then please, my Lord, go along with us. This is a stubborn people. Pardon our wrongdoing and our sin, and take us as your own possession."

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.

Note"Stubborn people" is literally "stiff-necked," the image of an ox that will not turn when the yoke is pulled. "Take us as your own possession" uses the word for an inherited allotment of land, the permanent share a family holds and does not sell; Moses is asking God to claim the people as that kind of permanent holding.

10And he said, "Look, I am making a covenant. In front of all your people I will do wonders that have never been done anywhere on earth or in any nation. All the people you live among will see the work of the LORD, for what I am going to do with you is a fearsome thing.

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.

NoteA covenant is a formal binding agreement, like a treaty between a ruler and a subject people, with stated terms and obligations on both sides, not a mood or a feeling. "Fearsome" translates a word meaning awe-inspiring, something that makes onlookers draw back; it does not mean cruel.

11Keep what I command you today. Look, I am driving out ahead of you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

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 Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

NoteThese are the peoples living in Canaan, the land between the Jordan River and the Mediterranean, before Israel entered it. Lists like this one are stock phrases in Hebrew for "the existing inhabitants," and the number and order of names vary from list to list.

12Be careful not to make an agreement with the people who live in the land you are going into, or they will become a trap among you.

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:

NoteThe "agreement" here is a political treaty of the ordinary ancient kind, which was sworn in the names of both sides' gods and normally sealed by intermarriage and shared meals at a shrine. That is why the ban on treaties runs straight into verses about sacrifices and marriages.

13Instead you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and cut down their Asherah poles.

13But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:

NoteThe "sacred stones" are standing stones, upright pillars set up at a place of worship to mark a god's presence. "Asherah poles" were wooden objects, probably poles or stylized trees, associated with the Canaanite goddess Asherah. Both were standard furniture of a local shrine, along with the altar.

14For you must not worship any other god, because the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

14For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

NoteThe Hebrew word rendered "jealous" is used of a husband's or wife's exclusive claim, and also of fierce zeal for something one is committed to. It is about an exclusive relationship being violated, not about petty envy of someone else's advantages.

15Do not make an agreement with the people who live in the land. When they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, one of them will invite you, and you will eat from his sacrifice.

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;

Note"Prostitute themselves" is a stock Hebrew image for worshiping other gods: the covenant is pictured as a marriage, so going to another god is unfaithfulness. Eating from a sacrifice is the point of the warning, in the ancient world an animal offered to a god was then eaten as a shared meal, and joining the meal meant joining the worship.

16And you will take their daughters as wives for your sons, and their daughters will prostitute themselves to their gods and make your sons do the same.

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.

17You are not to make yourselves gods of cast metal.

17Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

Note"Gods of cast metal" means images made by pouring molten metal into a mold, the technique used for the gold calf in chapter 32.

18You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days you are to eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you, at the set time in the month of Abib, because in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.

18The 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.

NoteBread was raised with a lump of old fermented dough kept back from the last batch; "unleavened" bread has none of it, and can be made in a hurry. The seven-day festival recalls a departure from Egypt too rushed for the dough to rise. Abib is the first month of the Hebrew year, in the early spring, at the barley harvest; after the exile it was usually called Nisan.

19Every first male to come from the womb is mine, including every firstborn male among your livestock, whether ox or sheep.

19All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male.

NoteThe claim on the firstborn covers the first male offspring of any mother, animal or human. Firstborn animals were sacrificed; the rule assumes the widespread ancient idea that the first yield of anything (crop, flock, family) belongs to the god who gave it.

20But the firstborn of a donkey you must buy back with a lamb, and if you do not buy it back, you must break its neck. You must buy back every firstborn of your sons. No one is to appear before me empty-handed.

20But 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.

Note"Buy back" translates "redeem": paying a substitute so the original is released from the claim on it. A donkey could not be sacrificed, so a lamb was killed in its place; if the owner would not pay that price, the donkey was killed but not offered. Sons were always bought back, never sacrificed. "Empty-handed" means arriving at the sanctuary without an offering.

21Six days you are to work, but on the seventh day you are to rest. Even in plowing season and in harvest you are to rest.

21Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.

NotePlowing and harvest were the two points in the farming year when a lost day cost the most. Naming them makes the point that the weekly rest has no exemption for urgent work.

22You are to keep the Feast of Weeks, with the first of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.

22And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.

NoteThe Feast of Weeks fell seven weeks after the start of the barley harvest, at the wheat harvest, later known by its Greek name, Pentecost, meaning "fiftieth." "Firstfruits" are the first-picked portion of a crop, brought to the sanctuary before the rest is used. The Feast of Ingathering came in the autumn when the fruit and olive crops were gathered in and the agricultural year turned over; it is elsewhere called the Feast of Booths or Tabernacles.

23Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.

23Thrice in the year shall all your menchildren appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel.

NoteThe three festivals just named required travel to the sanctuary, so these are pilgrimage feasts. "All your males" means the adult men, who represented their households; women and children were not obliged to make the journey. "Lord GOD" here renders a Hebrew pairing of the word for master with the divine name.

24For I will drive out nations ahead of you and make your borders wider, and no one will want to take your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the LORD your God.

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.

NoteThe promise answers the obvious objection to verse 23: with the men away three times a year, farms and villages stood undefended. "Want to take your land" is literally "covet", set eyes on it with intent to seize it.

25You are not to offer the blood of my sacrifice along with anything containing yeast, and the sacrifice of the Passover Feast must not be left until morning.

25Thou 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.

NoteFermentation was associated with decay, so nothing leavened could accompany a blood offering. The Passover animal had to be eaten the same night and any remainder destroyed, rather than kept, a rule about the meat not lingering past the festival, not about storage in general.

26You are to bring the first of the firstfruits of your land to the house of the LORD your God. You are not to boil a young goat in its mother's milk."

26The 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.

Note"The house of the LORD" means the sanctuary, at this point the portable tent described in the surrounding chapters, and later the temple in Jerusalem. The ban on boiling a young goat in its mother's milk is not explained anywhere in the text; suggestions include a Canaanite ritual being avoided, or revulsion at using a mother's milk to cook her own young. Much later Jewish law built the separation of meat and dairy on this line.

27The LORD said to Moses, "Write these words down, because it is in keeping with these words that I have made a covenant with you and with Israel."

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.

28He was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights. He ate no bread and drank no water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

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.

Note"He wrote" is ambiguous in the Hebrew, as it is in English: verse 1 has God writing on the tablets, verse 27 has Moses told to write, and the subject here is not specified. "The Ten Commandments" is literally "the ten words", the Hebrew term is for sayings or statements, and this is where the traditional count of ten comes from.

29When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand, he did not know, as he came down from the mountain, that the skin of his face shone while he talked with the LORD.

29And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai 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.

Note"The testimony" is the covenant terms themselves, treated as sworn evidence of the agreement, hence tablets of the testimony. The Hebrew verb for "shone" is built on the noun for "horn," apparently meaning to send out rays; an early Latin translation took it as "grew horns," which is why medieval and Renaissance art shows Moses with horns. The person Moses had been talking with is the LORD.

30When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, they saw that the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near 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.

31But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him, and Moses talked with them.

31And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them.

32Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them as commands everything the LORD had said to him on Mount Sinai.

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 Sinai.

33When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.

33And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face.

NoteThe Hebrew leaves the timing open: it can mean Moses veiled his face only after he had finished speaking, or that he kept it veiled while speaking. Verse 34 favors the first, since he removes the veil to go in and speaks unveiled when he comes out.

34But whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the veil off until he came out. Then he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded.

34But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded.

35The Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses' face was shining. And Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with him.

35And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.