Exodus 34

1 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.

Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Cut two slabs of stone that will be like the first slabs, the ones that you broke. Then I will engrave on them the words that were on the first slabs.

2 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.

Get ready tomorrow morning, and come up to the top of Sinai Mountain again to talk with me there.

3 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.”

Do not allow anyone to come up with you. I do not want anyone [else] to be anywhere on the mountain. Do not allow any sheep or cattle to graze (at the base of/near) the mountain.”

4 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.

So Moses/I cut two slabs of stone that were like the first ones. He/I arose early the next morning. He/I took the slabs and carried them in his/my hands up to the top of Sinai Mountain, as Yahweh had commanded.

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

Then Yahweh descended in the [tall] cloud and stood with Moses/me there. He proclaimed that it was he, Yahweh, [who was going to speak to Moses/me].

6 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,

Then Yahweh passed in front of him/me and proclaimed, “I am Yahweh God. I always act mercifully and kindly [toward people]. I do not get angry quickly. I [truly] love [people] and I do what I promise to do for them, without changing.

7 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.”

I love people for thousands of generations. I forgive people for all kinds of sins [TRI]. But I will certainly punish [LIT] those who are guilty. I will punish not only them, but I will punish (their descendants, down to the third and fourth generation/their children and grandchildren and great-grandchildren).”

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

Moses/I quickly prostrated himself/myself on the ground and worshiped [Yahweh].

9 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.”

He/I said, “Yahweh, if you are now pleased with me, I ask that you go with us. These people are very stubborn [IDM], but forgive us for all our sins [DOU], and accept us to be people who belong to you [forever].”

10 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.

Yahweh replied, “Note this: I am going to make a solemn agreement [with the Israeli people]. As they are watching, I will perform great miracles. They will be miracles that no one has ever done on the earth in any nation. All the people who are near you will see the great things that I, Yahweh, will do. I will do awesome things for you [all].

11 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.

[Each Israeli] person must obey what I am commanding you this day. Do not forget that [if you obey me], I will expel the Amor, Canaan, Heth, Periz, Hiv, and Jebus people-groups [from the land]. But be careful that you do not make any [peace] agreements with any of the people who live in the land into which you are going, because if you do that, [you will begin to do the evil things that they do]. It will be [like] falling into a trap.

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

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

You must tear down their altars, destroy their sacred pillars, and cut down [the poles that they use to worship their female goddess] Asherah.

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

You must worship only me, [and] not worship any other god, because I, Yahweh, cannot endure any rivals.

15 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.

Do not make peace agreements with [any group] that lives in that land. When they worship their gods and offer sacrifices to their gods, and they invite you to join them, do not join them. If [you join them], you will eat the food that they sacrifice to their gods, and [you will not be faithful to me. You will be like people who] commit adultery, [who are not being faithful to their spouses] [MET].

16 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.

If you take some of their women to be wives for your sons, and these women worship their own gods, they will persuade your sons also to worship their gods.

17 You shall not make for yourselves any molten gods.

Do not pour melted metal into molds to make statues for you to worship.

18 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.

[Each year], during the month [of/named] Abib, celebrate the Festival of Eating Bread Made Without Yeast. [During that festival], for seven days you must not eat bread made with yeast, as I commanded you, because it was in that month that you left Egypt.

19 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.

Your firstborn sons and the firstborn [male] animals of your cattle and sheep [and goats] belong to me.

20 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.

The firstborn of your [male] donkeys [also belong to me]. But you may buy them back by [offering to me] lambs [in their place]. If you do not do that, you must [kill these animals by] breaking their necks. You must also buy back your firstborn sons. You must bring an offering to me [LIT] each time you come to [worship] me.

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

[Each week] you may work for six days, but on the seventh day you must rest. [Even] during the times when you plow [the ground] and harvest [your crops], you must rest [on the seventh day].

22 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.

[Each year] celebrate the Harvest Festival, when you begin to harvest the first crop of wheat, and also celebrate the Festival of Living in Temporary Shelters, when you finish harvesting [the grain and fruit].

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

Three times each year all the men must come to worship me, Yahweh, the God of the Israeli people.

24 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.

I will expel the people-groups that live in the land [where you will be], and I will cause your territory to become very large. As a result, no group will try to conquer your country if you come to worship me each year during those three festivals.

25 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.

When you sacrifice an animal [MTY] to me, do not offer with it bread that is made with yeast. And during the Passover Festival, when you sacrifice lambs, do not keep any of the meat until the next morning.

26 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.”

I am Yahweh God. You must bring to my Sacred Tent the first part of the grain that you harvest each year. When you kill a young animal/kid [either a lamb or a calf], do not [prepare to eat it by] boiling it in its mother’s milk.”

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

Yahweh also said to Moses/me, “Write down the words that I have told you. By giving you these commands, I have made a solemn agreement with you and with the [other] Israeli people.”

28 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.

Moses/I was there [on the top of the mountain] with Yahweh for 40 days and nights. During that time he/I did not eat or drink anything [SYN]. He/I engraved on the stone slabs the words of the Ten Commandments, [which were part of Yahweh’s] solemn agreement.

29 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.

When Moses/I came back down the mountain, carrying in his/my hand the two stone slabs on which were written the Ten Commandments, his/my face was shining because he/I had been talking with Yahweh, but he/I did not know that his/my face was shining.

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

When Aaron and the [other] Israeli people saw Moses/me, they were amazed/surprised that his/my face was shining. So they were afraid to come near him/me.

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

But Moses/I called to them. Then Aaron and the other Israeli leaders came to him/me, and he/I talked with them.

32 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.

Afterwards, all the other Israeli people came near, and he/I told them all the laws that Yahweh had given to him/me on Sinai Mountain.

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

When Moses/I finished talking to the people, he/I put a veil over his/my face.

34 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.

But whenever Moses/I entered the Sacred Tent to talk with Yahweh, he/I removed the veil. When he/I came back out, he/I would always tell to the Israeli people everything that Yahweh had commanded him/me [to tell them].

35 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.

The Israeli people would see that Moses’/my face was [still] shining. Then he/I would put the veil back on his/my face again until the next time that he/I went into [the Sacred Tent] to talk with Yahweh.