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The Torah · Old Testament

Exodus 34

New tablets, renewed covenant and Moses’ shining face

General context

The Lord tells Moses to cut two stone tablets like the broken ones and come alone to Sinai in the morning. Moses does so. The Lord descends in the cloud and proclaims his name, describing mercy, grace, patience, goodness and truth alongside forgiveness and judgment reaching later generations. Moses bows, asks the Lord to go among the people and seeks pardon. The Lord announces a covenant and wonders, then commands rejection of the inhabitants' gods, cult objects and covenants that would draw Israel into their worship. The instructions renew observance of unleavened bread, firstborn obligations including redemption of sons, seventh-day rest even during plowing and harvest, and yearly festivals. They include sacrifice and firstfruits rules. Moses is told to write the covenant words. He remains with the Lord forty days and nights without food or water, and the text reports the covenant words on the tablets. He descends unaware that his face shines. Aaron and the people fear approaching, but Moses calls them near and communicates the commands. The closing scene describes his use of a veil, removed when speaking before the Lord and replaced after he has conveyed the commands to Israel.

Cited passages: Exodus 34:1, Exodus 34:2, Exodus 34:3, Exodus 34:4, Exodus 34:5, Exodus 34:6, Exodus 34:7, Exodus 34:8, Exodus 34:9, Exodus 34:10, Exodus 34:11, Exodus 34:12, Exodus 34:13, Exodus 34:14, Exodus 34:15, Exodus 34:16, Exodus 34:17, Exodus 34:18, Exodus 34:19, Exodus 34:20, Exodus 34:21, Exodus 34:22, Exodus 34:23, Exodus 34:24, Exodus 34:25, Exodus 34:26, Exodus 34:27, Exodus 34:28, Exodus 34:29, Exodus 34:30, Exodus 34:31, Exodus 34:32, Exodus 34:33, Exodus 34:34, Exodus 34:35

Exodus 34 (KJV)

1And the Lord said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.

2And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount.

3And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount.

4And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.

5And the Lord descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the Lord.

6And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,

7Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

8And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.

9And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.

10And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the Lord: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.

11Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

12Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:

13But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:

14For thou shalt worship no other god: for the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:

15Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou eat of his sacrifice;

16And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make thy sons go a whoring after their gods.

17Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.

18The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.

19All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male.

20But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before me empty.

21Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.

22And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.

23Thrice in the year shall all your men children appear before the Lord God, the God of Israel.

24For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders: neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before the Lord thy God thrice in the year.

25Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.

26The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother’s milk.

27And the Lord said unto Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have made a covenant with thee and with Israel.

28And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

29And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.

30And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.

31And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them.

32And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in commandment all that the Lord had spoken with him in mount Sinai.

33And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face.

34But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with him, he took the vail off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of Israel that which he was commanded.

35And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to speak with him.

This page shows the King James Version. In the app, reading opens in the Berean Standard Bible unless you have chosen another translation. The reader includes five translations: the Berean Standard Bible (BSB), the King James Version (KJV), the World English Bible (WEB), the Bible in Basic English (BBE), and the American Standard Version (ASV). Search covers three of them: Berean Standard, King James, and World English. Basic English and American Standard readers search the King James words.

Historical context

The new tablets are cut by Moses; the opening promise says the Lord will write the former words on them. Verse 27 then tells Moses to write these words, and verse 28 uses 'he' for the writing on the tablets. This guide does not claim to resolve every referent or define an additional list beyond the chapter's wording. The warning against other worship includes destruction of altars and objects called groves in King James and Asherim in American Standard. The firstborn sons are to be redeemed, not sacrificed. The shining face is described as initially unknown to Moses; no horns or physical mechanism are supplied. At verse 33, King James has the difficult wording “till Moses had done speaking,” while American Standard says “when Moses had done speaking.” The veil sequence is read with verses 34–35, which describe removal before the Lord and replacement after communication with the people.

Cited passages: Exodus 34:1, Exodus 34:2, Exodus 34:3, Exodus 34:4, Exodus 34:11, Exodus 34:12, Exodus 34:13, Exodus 34:14, Exodus 34:15, Exodus 34:16, Exodus 34:17, Exodus 34:18, Exodus 34:19, Exodus 34:20, Exodus 34:21, Exodus 34:22, Exodus 34:23, Exodus 34:24, Exodus 34:25, Exodus 34:26, Exodus 34:27, Exodus 34:28, Exodus 34:29, Exodus 34:30, Exodus 34:31, Exodus 34:32, Exodus 34:33, Exodus 34:34, Exodus 34:35

Literary context

The new tablets recall the breach while the proclamation of the Lord's name joins mercy and forgiveness with continuing judgment. Moses responds in worship and asks for accompaniment and pardon. Commands against molten gods give the renewed instructions a pointed connection to the preceding calf episode. Rest, festivals and firstfruits place recurring practices within the covenant address. The final scene returns Moses to the people as a bearer of commands, with his shining face and veil marking the movement between divine conversation and public speech.

Cited passages: Exodus 34:1, Exodus 34:5, Exodus 34:6, Exodus 34:7, Exodus 34:8, Exodus 34:9, Exodus 34:10, Exodus 34:12, Exodus 34:13, Exodus 34:14, Exodus 34:15, Exodus 34:16, Exodus 34:17, Exodus 34:18, Exodus 34:19, Exodus 34:20, Exodus 34:21, Exodus 34:22, Exodus 34:23, Exodus 34:24, Exodus 34:25, Exodus 34:26, Exodus 34:27, Exodus 34:28, Exodus 34:29, Exodus 34:30, Exodus 34:31, Exodus 34:32, Exodus 34:33, Exodus 34:34, Exodus 34:35, Exodus 32:4

Key moments

  1. Moses carries the new tablets up Sinai (Exodus 34:4). Moses cuts two tablets and takes them up the mountain as commanded.
  2. The Lord proclaims his character (Exodus 34:6). The proclamation names mercy, grace, patience, goodness and truth; the following verse also speaks of forgiveness and judgment.
  3. Firstborn sons are to be redeemed (Exodus 34:20). The renewed instructions expressly require redemption of firstborn sons.
  4. Moses descends with a shining face (Exodus 34:29). Moses carries the tablets down, unaware that his face shines after speaking with the Lord.

For reflection

How does the proclamation of mercy and judgment shape the renewed covenant that follows?

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