Exodus 34

Two New Tablets

1The LORD said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write upon the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you shattered. 2Be ready by morning and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai. Present yourself to me there on the top of the mountain. 3No one shall come up with you, and no one shall be seen anywhere on the mountain. Even the flocks and herds shall not graze opposite that mountain.” 4So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. He rose early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tablets of stone.

The LORD Proclaims His Name

5The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there and proclaimed the name of the LORD. 6The LORD passed before him and proclaimed:

“The LORD, the LORD,
a God compassionate and gracious,
slow to anger,
abundant in steadfast love and faithfulness, 7keeping steadfast love for thousands,
forgiving guilt, transgression, and sin,
yet by no means clearing the guilty,
attending to the guilt of fathers
upon children and children’s children,
to the third and fourth generation.”

Moses Pleads for the People

8Moses hurried and bowed his head toward the ground and worshiped. 9He said, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, my Lord, please let my Lord go in our midst, though this is a stiff-necked people. Forgive our guilt and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”

The Covenant Renewed

10He said, “Look, I am making a covenant. Before all your people I will do wonders that have not been created in all the earth or among any nation. All the people among whom you are will see the work of the LORD, for it is an awe-inspiring thing that I am doing with you. 11Keep what I command you today. Look, I am driving out before you the Amorite, Canaanite, Hittite, Perizzite, Hivite, and Jebusite. 12Be careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, lest it become a snare in your midst. 13Rather, you shall tear down their altars, shatter their pillars, and cut down their Asherah poles. 14For you shall not bow down to another god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. 15Do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest when they prostitute themselves after their gods and sacrifice to their gods, someone invite you and you eat from his sacrifice, 16and you take some of their daughters for your sons, and their daughters prostitute themselves after their gods and cause your sons to prostitute themselves after their gods. 17You shall not make for yourself cast gods.

Festivals and the Firstborn

18“You shall keep the Festival of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, for in the month of Abib you came out from Egypt. 19Everything that first opens the womb is mine, including every male firstborn among your livestock, whether cattle or sheep. 20The firstborn donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, you shall break its neck. Every firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. No one shall appear before me empty-handed. 21Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall cease. Even in plowing time and harvest you shall cease. 22You shall keep the Festival of Weeks, the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turning of the year. 23Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel. 24For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory, and no one will desire your land when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year. 25You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, and the sacrifice of the Passover festival shall not remain until morning. 26The best of the firstfruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God.

You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

The Words of the Covenant

27The LORD said to Moses, “Write these words, for according to these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” 28He was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights. He ate no bread and drank no water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Words.

The Skin of Moses’ Face Shines

29When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the testimony in Moses’ hand as he came down from the mountain, Moses did not know that the skin of his face was shining because he had spoken with him. 30Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, and look, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. 31Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. 32Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he commanded them all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33When Moses finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. 34But whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he removed the veil until he came out. Then he came out and spoke to the children of Israel what he had been commanded. 35The children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face was shining. Then Moses put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with him.