A Second Set of Tablets
Exodus 34, verse 1. Now the Lord said to Moses, “Cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets you broke. Exodus 34, verse 2. So be ready in the morning to come up on Mount Sinai and to present yourself to Me there on top of the mountain. Exodus 34, verse 3. But no man shall come up with you, and let no man be seen throughout all the mountain; let neither sheep nor oxen feed before that mountain.” Exodus 34, verse 4. So he cut two tablets of stone like the first ones. Then Moses rose early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai as the Lord commanded him; and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone. Exodus 34, verse 5. Now the Lord descended in the cloud; and He stood with him there, and he called upon the name of the Lord. Exodus 34, verse 6. Then the Lord passed before his face and proclaimed, “The Lord God, compassionate, merciful, longsuffering, abounding in mercy and true, Exodus 34, verse 7. preserving righteousness and showing mercy unto thousands, taking away lawlessness, wrongdoing, and sins; and He will not clear the guilty, visiting the lawlessness of the fathers upon the children and the children's children to the third and the fourth generation.” Exodus 34, verse 8. So Moses made haste and bowed his head toward the ground and worshiped. Exodus 34, verse 9. Then he said, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, let my Lord go with us, for the people are stiff-necked; and You will take away our sins and lawlessness, and we will be Yours.”
The Covenant Is Renewed
Exodus 34, verse 10. The Lord then said to Moses, “Behold, I am establishing a covenant with you. Before all your people I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the works of the Lord, for I will do awesome things for you. Exodus 34, verse 11. Observe what I command you this day. Behold, I am driving out from before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Perizzite, the Hittite, the Hivite, the Gergesite, and the Jebusite. Exodus 34, verse 12. Take heed to yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be a stumbling-block in your midst. Exodus 34, verse 13. But you shall destroy their altars, break their sacred pillars, and cut down their groves; and you shall burn the graven images of their gods with fire Exodus 34, verse 14. (for you shall worship no other god, for the Lord God, a jealous name, is a jealous God), Exodus 34, verse 15. lest you make a covenant with the foreigners of the land; and they indulge themselves in gross immorality with their gods by making sacrifice to them; and they invite you, and you eat of their sacrifices; Exodus 34, verse 16. and you take of their daughters for your sons and give your daughters to their sons; and your daughters commit fornication with their gods, and your sons commit fornication with their gods. Exodus 34, verse 17. You shall make no molten gods for yourselves. Exodus 34, verse 18. “The Feast of Unleavened Bread you shall keep. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the season in the month of new grain; for in the month of new grain you came out from Egypt. Exodus 34, verse 19. All that open the womb are Mine: every male firstborn among your livestock, of oxen or sheep. Exodus 34, verse 20. But the firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a sheep, and if you will not redeem it, you shall pay a price. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem, and none shall appear before Me empty-handed. Exodus 34, verse 21. Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest. There shall be rest in seedtime and harvest. Exodus 34, verse 22. You shall observe the Feast of Weeks, the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the year's end. Exodus 34, verse 23. “Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord God of Israel. Exodus 34, verse 24. For I will cast out the nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither will any man covet your land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God three times in the year. Exodus 34, verse 25. You shall not offer the blood of My sacrifices with leaven, nor shall the sacrifices from the Feast of Pascha be left until morning. Exodus 34, verse 26. The first fruits of your land you shall bring to the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a lamb in its mother's milk.” Exodus 34, verse 27. Again the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words for yourself, for according to these words I established a covenant with you and with Israel.” Exodus 34, verse 28. So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
Moses’ Face Shines
Exodus 34, verse 29. Now when Moses came down from Mount Sinai (and the two tablets were in Moses’ hand when he came down from the mountain), he did not know the skin of his face was glorified while God talked with Him. Exodus 34, verse 30. So when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses and the glorified appearance of the skin of his face, they were afraid to come near him. Exodus 34, verse 31. Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses talked with them. Exodus 34, verse 32. Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them as commandments all that the Lord commanded him on Mount Sinai. Exodus 34, verse 33. When Moses finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. Exodus 34, verse 34. But when Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, he would take the veil off until he came out; and he would come out and speak to the children of Israel whatever the Lord commanded him. Exodus 34, verse 35. So the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that it was glorified; and Moses put the veil on his face again until he went in to speak with Him.