Exodus 34
1 Yahweh said to Moses, “Cut two tablets of stone like the first tablets. I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets, 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 ready by morning and come up Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the mountain top.
Get ready tomorrow morning, and come up to the top of Sinai Mountain again to talk with me there.
3 No one is to come up with you. Do not let anyone else be seen anywhere on the mountain. No flocks or herds are even to graze in front of the mountain.”
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 So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and he got up early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had instructed him. Moses carried the tablets of stone in his hand.
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 Yahweh came down in the cloud and stood with Moses there, and he pronounced the name “Yahweh.”
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 Yahweh passed by before him and proclaimed, “Yahweh, Yahweh, God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in covenant faithfulness and trustworthiness,
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 keeping covenant faithfulness for thousands of generations, forgiving iniquities, transgressions, and sins. But he will by no means clear the guilty. He will bring the punishment for the fathers' sin on their children and on their children's children, as far as the third and fourth generations.”
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 Moses quickly bowed his head to the ground and worshiped.
Moses/I quickly prostrated himself/myself on the ground and worshiped [Yahweh].
9 Then he said, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, my Lord, please go among us, for this people is stubborn. Pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”
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 Yahweh said, “See, I am about to make a covenant. Before all your people, I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth nor in any nation. All the people among you will see my deeds, for it is a fearful thing that I am doing with you.
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 Obey what I command you today. I am about to drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
[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 Be careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, or they will become a trap among you.
13 Instead, you must break down their altars, smash their stone pillars, and cut down their Asherah poles.
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 For you must worship no other god, for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
You must worship only me, [and] not worship any other god, because I, Yahweh, cannot endure any rivals.
15 So be careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for they prostitute themselves to their gods, and they sacrifice to their gods. Then one of them will invite you and you will eat some of his sacrifice,
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 and then you will even take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters will prostitute themselves to their gods, and they will make your sons prostitute themselves to 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 Do not make for yourselves gods of molten metal.
Do not pour melted metal into molds to make statues for you to worship.
18 You must keep the Festival of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you must eat bread without yeast for seven days at the fixed time in the month of Aviv, for it was in the month of Aviv you came out 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 the firstborn are mine, even every male firstborn of your cattle, both of oxen and sheep.
Your firstborn sons and the firstborn [male] animals of your cattle and sheep [and goats] belong to me.
20 You must buy back the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb, but if you do not buy it back, then you must break its neck. You must buy back all the firstborn of your sons. No one may appear before me empty-handed.
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 You may work for six days, but on the seventh day you must rest. Even at plowing time and in harvest, you must rest.
[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 must observe the Festival of Weeks with the first yield of the wheat harvest, and you must observe the Festival of Ingathering at the year's end.
[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 men must appear before Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel.
Three times each year all the men must come to worship me, Yahweh, the God of the Israeli people.
24 For I will drive out nations before you and expand your borders. No one will desire to have your land as their own when you go up to appear before Yahweh your God three times in 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 must not offer the blood of my sacrifice with any yeast, nor may any meat from the sacrifice at the Festival of the Passover be left over to the morning.
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 You must bring the best of the firstfruits from your fields to my house. You must not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.”
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 Yahweh said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant 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 Moses was there with Yahweh for forty days and nights; he did not eat any food nor drink any water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
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 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant decrees in his hand, he did not know that the skin of his face had become radiant while speaking with God.
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 When Aaron and the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him.
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 But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the community came up to him. Then Moses spoke with 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 After this, all the people of Israel came up to Moses, and he told them all the commands that Yahweh had given him 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 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.
When Moses/I finished talking to the people, he/I put a veil over his/my face.
34 Whenever Moses went before Yahweh to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. When he came out, he would tell the Israelites what he was commanded to say.
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 When the Israelites saw Moses' face shining, he would put the veil over his face again until he went back in to speak with Yahweh.
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.
