Exodus 34

1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the originals, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

And after this he said: “Cut out for yourself two tablets of stone similar to the first ones, and I will write upon them the words which were held on the tablets that you broke.

2 Be ready in the morning, and come up on Mount Sinai to present yourself before Me on the mountaintop.

Be prepared in the morning, so that you may immediately ascend onto Mount Sinai, and you shall stand with me on the summit of the mountain.

3 No one may go up with you; in fact, no one may be seen anywhere on the mountain—not even the flocks or herds may graze in front of the mountain.”

Let no one ascend with you, and do not let anyone be seen throughout the entire mountain. Likewise, do not let the oxen or the sheep pasture up against it.”

4 So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the originals. He rose early in the morning, and taking the two stone tablets in his hands, he went up Mount Sinai as the LORD had commanded him.

And so he cut out two tablets of stone, like those that were before. And rising up in the night, he ascended onto Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had instructed him, carrying with him the tablets.

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

And when the Lord had descended in a cloud, Moses stood with him, calling upon the name of the Lord.

6 Then the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out: “The LORD, the LORD God, is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion and faithfulness,

And as he was crossing before him, he said: “The Ruler, the Lord God, merciful and lenient, patient and full of compassion and also truthful,

7 maintaining loving devotion to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin. Yet He will by no means leave the guilty unpunished; He will visit the iniquity of the fathers on their children and grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.”

who preserves mercy a thousand fold, who takes away iniquity, and wickedness, and also sin; and with you no one, in and of himself, is innocent. You render the iniquity of the fathers to the sons, and also to their descendants to the third and fourth generation.”

8 Moses immediately bowed down to the ground and worshiped.

And hurrying, Moses bowed down prostrate to the ground; and worshiping,

9 “O Lord,” he said, “if I have indeed found favor in Your sight, my Lord, please go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our iniquity and sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”

he said: “If I have found grace in your sight, O Lord, I beg you to walk with us, (for the people are stiff-necked) and take away our iniquities and our sin, and so possess us.”

10 And the LORD said, “Behold, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will perform wonders that have never been done in any nation in all the world. All the people among whom you live will see the LORD’s work, for it is an awesome thing that I am doing with you.

The Lord responded: “I will enter into a pact in the sight of all. I will perform signs which have never been seen on earth, nor among any nation, so that this people, in whose midst you are, may discern the terrible work of the Lord that I will do.

11 Observe what I command you this day. I will drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

Observe everything that I command you this day. I myself will drive out before your face the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

12 Be careful not to make a treaty with the inhabitants of the land you are entering, lest they become a snare in your midst.

Beware that you do not ever join in friendship with the inhabitants of that land, which may be your ruin.

13 Rather, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred stones, and chop down their Asherah poles.

But destroy their altars, break their statues, and cut down their sacred groves.

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

Do not be willing to worship any strange god. The jealous Lord is his name. God is a rival.

15 Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to them, they will invite you, and you will eat their sacrifices.

Do not enter into a pact with the men of those regions, lest, when they will have fornicated with their gods and worshiped their idols, someone might call upon you to eat from what was immolated.

16 And when you take some of their daughters as brides for your sons, their daughters will prostitute themselves to their gods and cause your sons to do the same.

Neither shall you take a wife for your son from their daughters, lest, after they themselves have fornicated, they may cause your sons also to fornicate with their gods.

17 You shall make no molten gods for yourselves.

You shall not make for yourselves any molten gods.

18 You are to keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, you are to eat unleavened bread as I commanded you. For in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.

You shall keep the solemnity of unleavened bread. For seven days, you shall eat unleavened bread, just as I instructed you, in the time of the month of what is new. For in the month of springtime you departed from Egypt.

19 The first offspring of every womb belongs to Me, including all the firstborn males among your livestock, whether cattle or sheep.

All of the male kind, which open the womb, shall be mine: from all the animals, as much of oxen as of sheep, it shall be mine.

20 You must redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb; but if you do not redeem it, you are to break its neck. You must redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one shall appear before Me empty-handed.

The firstborn of a donkey, you shall redeem with a sheep. But if you will not give a price for it, it shall be slain. The firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. You shall not appear empty in my sight.

21 Six days you shall labor, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in the seasons of plowing and harvesting, you must rest.

For six days you shall work. On the seventh day you shall cease to cultivate and to harvest.

22 And you are to celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year.

You shall observe the Solemnity of Weeks with the first-fruits of the grain from the harvest of your wheat, and a Solemnity when the time of the year returns and everything is stored away.

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

Three times a year, all your males shall appear in the sight of the Almighty, the Lord God of Israel.

24 For I will drive out the nations before you and enlarge your borders, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the LORD your God.

For when I will have taken away the nations before your face, and enlarged your borders, no one shall lie in wait against your land when you will go up to appear in the sight of the Lord your God, three times a year.

25 Do not offer the blood of a sacrifice to Me along with anything leavened, and do not let any of the sacrifice from the Passover Feast remain until morning.

You shall not immolate the blood of my victim over leaven; and there shall not remain, in the morning, any of the victim of the Solemnity of the Passover.

26 Bring the best of the firstfruits of your soil to the house of the LORD your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

The first of the fruits of your land you shall offer in the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in the milk of its mother.”

27 The LORD also said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

And the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words to you, through which I have formed a covenant, both with you and with Israel.”

28 So Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.

Therefore, he was in that place with the Lord for forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread and he did not drink water, and he wrote on the tablets the ten words of the covenant.

29 And when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands, he was unaware that his face had become radiant from speaking with the LORD.

And when Moses descended from Mount Sinai, he held the two tablets of the testimony, and he did not know that his face was radiant from the sharing of words with the Lord.

30 Aaron and all the Israelites looked at Moses, and behold, his face was radiant. And they were afraid to approach him.

Then Aaron and the sons of Israel, seeing that the face of Moses was radiant, were afraid to approach close by.

31 But Moses called out to them; so Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke to them.

And being called by him, they turned back, both Aaron and the leaders of the assembly. And after he had spoken to them,

32 And after this all the Israelites came near, and Moses commanded them to do everything that the LORD had told him on Mount Sinai.

all the sons of Israel also now came to him. And he instructed them in all the things that he had heard from the Lord on Mount Sinai.

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

And having completed these words, he placed a veil over his face.

34 But whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, he would remove the veil until he came out. And when he came out, he would tell the Israelites what he had been commanded,

But when he entered to the Lord and was speaking with him, he took it off, until he exited. And then he spoke to the sons of Israel all that had been commanded to him.

35 and the Israelites would see that the face of Moses was radiant. So Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD.

And they saw that the face of Moses, when he came out, was radiant, but he covered his face again, whenever he spoke to them.