Exodus 34
1 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.
And Yahweh said unto Moses—Hew thee two tables of stone, like the first, —and I will write upon the tables the words which were upon the first tables which thou didst break in pieces;
2 Get ready tomorrow morning, and come up to the top of Sinai Mountain again to talk with me there.
and be thou ready by the morning, —and thou shalt come up. in the morning, into Mount Sinai; then shalt thou station thyself for me there upon the top of the mount;
3 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.”
and, no man, may come up with thee, and let no man so much as be seen in all the mount, —and let not even the flocks or the herds, feed in front of that mountain.
4 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.
So he hewed two tables of stone like the first and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up into Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him, —and took in his hand two tables of stone.
5 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].
And Yahweh descended in the cloud, and took his station with him there, —and proclaimed himself by the name Yahweh.
6 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.
So Yahweh passed before him, and proclaimed, —Yahweh, Yahweh, A God of compassion and favour, —Slow to anger and abundant in lovingkindness and faithfulness:
7 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).”
Keeping lovingkindness to a thousand generations, Forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, Though he leave not, utterly unpunished, Visiting the iniquity of fathers, Upon sons, And upon sons’ sons, Unto a third and unto a fourth generation.
8 Moses/I quickly prostrated himself/myself on the ground and worshiped [Yahweh].
Then Moses made haste, —and bent his head towards the earth and bowed himself down;
9 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].”
and said—If, I pray thee, I have found favour in thine eyes, O My Lord, I pray thee let My Lord go on in our midst, —although a stiff-necked people, it is, so wilt thou pardon our iniquity and our sin and take us as thine own.
10 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].
And he said—Lo! I, am about to solemnise a covenant, -in presence of all thy people, will I do marvellous things, which have not been created in any part of the earth nor among any of the nations, —so shall all the people in whose midst thou, art see the work of Yahweh for a fearful thing, it is, which I, am doing with thee.
11 [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.
Take thou heed what, I, am commanding thee this day, —behold me! driving out from before thee—the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
Take heed to thyself, Lest thou solemnise a covenant with the inhabitant of the land, whereupon, thou, art about to enter, —Lest he become a snare in thy midst;
13 You must tear down their altars, destroy their sacred pillars, and cut down [the poles that they use to worship their female goddess] Asherah.
For their altars, shall ye smash, And their pillars, shall ye shiver, —And their sacred-stems, shall ye fell.
14 You must worship only me, [and] not worship any other god, because I, Yahweh, cannot endure any rivals.
For thou shalt not bow thyself down to another GOD, —For as for Yahweh, Jealous, is his name, A jealous GOD, he is:
15 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].
Lest thou solemnise a covenant with the inhabitant of the land, —And then as surely as they go unchastely after their gods and sacrifice to their gods, So surely will he invite thee, And thou wilt eat of his sacrifice;
16 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.
And thou wilt take of his daughters for thy sons, —And his daughters will go unchastely after their gods, And will cause thy sons to go unchastely after their gods.
17 Do not pour melted metal into molds to make statues for you to worship.
Molten gods, shalt thou not make to thee.
18 [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.
The festival of unleavened cakes, shalt thou keep, seven days, shalt thou eat unleavened cakes, which I commanded thee, at the set time, in the month Abib, —for in the month Abib, camest thou forth out of Egypt.
19 Your firstborn sons and the firstborn [male] animals of your cattle and sheep [and goats] belong to me.
Every one that is the first to be born, is mine, —and every one of thy cattle that is born a male, firstling of oxen or sheep.
20 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.
But the firstling of an ass, thou mayst redeem with a lamb, and if thou wilt not redeem it, then shalt thou break its neck. Every firstborn of thy sons, shalt thou redeem, and he must not see my face, with empty hand.
21 [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].
Six days, shalt thou labour, but on the seventh day, shalt thou rest, —in plowing time and in harvest, shalt thou rest.
22 [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].
And the festival of weeks, shalt thou make to thee, the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, —and the festival of ingathering, at the closing in of the year:
23 Three times each year all the men must come to worship me, Yahweh, the God of the Israeli people.
three times in the year, shall every one of thy males see the face of the Lord Yahweh the God of Israel.
24 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.
For I will root out nations from before thee, and will enlarge thy borders, —and no man shall covet thy land, when thou goes up to see the face of Yahweh thy God, three times in the year.
25 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.
Thou shalt not slay, along with anything leavened, the blood of my sacrifice, —neither shall remain to the morning, the sacrifice of the festival of the passover.
26 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.”
The beginning of the firstfruits of thy ground, shalt thou bring into the house of Yahweh, thy God, Thou shalt not boil a kid, in the milk of its dam.
27 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.”
And Yahweh said unto Moses, Write for thyself these words, for according to the tenor of these words, have I solemnized with thee, a covenant, and with Israel.
28 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.
So then he was there, with Yahweh, forty days and forty nights, bread, did he not eat and, water, did he not drink, and he wrote upon the tables, the words of the covenant, the ten words.
29 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.
And it came to pass, when Moses came down out of Mount Sinai, with the two tables of testimony in the hand of Moses, when he came down out of the mount, that, Moses, knew not that the skin of his face shone, through his having spoken with him.
30 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.
And Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, and lo! the skin of his face shone, and they stood in awe of drawing nigh unto him.
31 But Moses/I called to them. Then Aaron and the other Israeli leaders came to him/me, and he/I talked with them.
So then Moses called unto them, and Aaron and all the princes in the assembly returned unto him, —and Moses spake unto them.
32 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.
And afterwards, came nigh, all the sons of Israel, and he gave them in commandment all that Yahweh had spoken with him in Mount Sinai.
33 When Moses/I finished talking to the people, he/I put a veil over his/my face.
And when Moses had made an end of speaking with them, he put over his face a veil:
34 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].
but, as often as Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with him, he put aside the veil until he came out, —and, as often as he came out and spake unto the sons of Israel, that which he had been commanded,
35 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.
the sons of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses face shone, —so Moses again put the veil over his face, until he went in to speak with him.
