Exodus 34

And 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.

1God said to Moses, "Cut two flat stones, like the first two. I will write on them the same words that were on the first stones. You broke those first stones."

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.

2"Be ready in the morning. Come up Mount Sinai. Stand there in front of me at the very top."

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.

3"No one may come up with you. No one may even be seen on the mountain. Do not let sheep or cows eat grass near it."

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.

4So Moses cut two stone tablets like the first ones. He got up early in the morning. He carried the stones up Mount Sinai, just as God had told him.

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

5God came down in a cloud. He stood there with Moses. He said his own name out loud: the LORD.

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

6God passed in front of Moses and called out: "I am the LORD, the LORD God. I am kind and full of mercy. I am slow to get angry. I am full of love, and I always keep my word."

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.

7"I keep on loving thousands of people. I forgive people who do wrong, even very bad wrong. But I do not call guilty people innocent. When parents do wrong, I bring that wrong onto their children and grandchildren, down to the third and fourth family after them."

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

8Moses quickly bowed down with his face toward the ground. He worshipped God.

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.

9He said, "Lord, if you are pleased with me, please come with us. These people are stubborn. Forgive the wrong things we have done. Take us as your very own people."

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.

10God said, "Look, I am making an agreement with you. In front of all your people I will do wonderful things. Nothing like them has ever been done anywhere on earth. All the people around you will see what I, the LORD, do. What I will do with you is great and awesome."

Note"A terrible thing" in 1611 English did not mean something bad. It meant something so great that it fills people with awe.

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.

11"Do what I tell you today. I will push out the people who live ahead of you. They are the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites."

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:

12"Be careful. Do not make a deal with the people who live in that land. If you do, they will become a trap for you."

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

13"Instead, tear down their altars. Smash the stones they treat as holy. Chop down the wooden poles they set up for their goddess."

Note"Groves" here does not mean groups of trees. It means carved wooden poles that people set up to worship a goddess.

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

14"Do not worship any other god. The LORD's name is Jealous. He is a jealous God, and he wants your worship for himself alone."

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;

15"Do not make a deal with the people of that land. They are not faithful to God. They give sacrifices to their own gods. They will invite you over, and you will eat food from those sacrifices."

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.

16"You might pick their daughters to be wives for your sons. Then those wives will worship their own gods. And they will lead your sons to do the same."

17Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

17"Do not make gods for yourselves out of melted metal."

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.

18"Keep the Feast of Bread Without Yeast. For seven days eat bread made without yeast. Do this in the month called Abib, just as I told you. That is the month when you came out of Egypt."

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

19"Every firstborn belongs to me. That includes the first male animal born to your cows and your sheep."

Note"All that openeth the matrix" is old English for every firstborn, the first baby to come out of a mother.

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.

20"A firstborn donkey must be bought back with a lamb. If you do not buy it back, you must break its neck. You must also buy back every firstborn son. No one may come to me with empty hands."

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

21"Work six days. On the seventh day, rest. Rest even when it is time to plow or to bring in the crops."

Note"Earing time" has nothing to do with ears. It means plowing time, when farmers break up the ground before planting.

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

22"Keep the Feast of Weeks, when you bring in the first wheat you cut. Keep the Feast of Gathering at the end of the year."

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

23"Three times a year all your men and boys must come 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.

24"I will push other nations out and make your land bigger. No one will want to take your land while you come to meet me three times a year."

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.

25"Do not offer the blood of my sacrifice along with anything made with yeast. Do not keep any meat from the Passover meal until morning."

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.

26"Bring the best of the first crops from your land to the LORD's house. Do not cook a baby goat in its mother's milk."

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.

27God said to Moses, "Write these words down. These are the words of the agreement I am making with you 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.

28Moses stayed there with God forty days and forty nights. He ate no bread and drank no water. He wrote the words of the agreement on the stones. Those words are the Ten Commandments.

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.

29Moses came down from Mount Sinai holding the two stone tablets. His face was shining because he had talked with God. Moses did not know his face was shining.

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.

30Aaron and all the people of Israel looked at Moses. They saw that his face was shining. They were afraid to come near him.

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

31Moses called to them. So Aaron and the leaders of the people came back to him. 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 Sinai.

32After that, all the people of Israel came close. Moses told them everything God had said to him on Mount Sinai.

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

33When Moses had finished speaking to them, he put a cloth over his face.

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.

34Whenever Moses went in to talk with God, he took the cloth off. He left it off until he came out again. Then he told the people of Israel what God had commanded.

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.

35The people of Israel saw that Moses' face was shining. So Moses put the cloth back over his face. He kept it on until he went in to talk with God again.