Exodus 34

God Tells Moses to Make New Tablets

1 The Lord told Moses, ‘Chisel out two new stone tablets like the ones you broke, and I will rewrite the same words that were on the first ones.’

2 ‘Be ready in the morning. Come up Mount Sinai and meet Me there.’

3 ‘Nobody else can come with you, not even animals near the mountain.’

4 So Moses cut two stone tablets and climbed Mount Sinai early in the morning, just like the Lord commanded.

God Shows His Glory

5 The Lord came down in a cloud, stood with Moses, and called out His own name: ‘The Lord!’

6 The Lord passed in front of Moses, saying, ‘I am the Lord, the merciful and compassionate God, slow to anger, full of love and truth.’

7 ‘I show love to a thousand generations. I forgive sin, rebellion, and wickedness. But I do not let guilty people go free, I hold people accountable, even their children and grandchildren.’

8 Moses immediately bowed down and worshiped.

9 He said, ‘Lord, if I have found favor with You, please stay with us, even though we are stubborn. Forgive our sins and make us Your people.’

God Renews His Covenant with Israel

10 The Lord said, ‘Alright, I am making a new covenant with you. I am about to do some miracles that no nation has ever seen. Everybody will know I am working through you all.’

11 ‘Follow My instructions. I am going to drive out the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites before you.’

12 ‘Do not make any peace treaties with these people, or they will trap you into sinning.’

13 ‘Tear down their altars, smash their idols, and destroy their sacred poles.’

14 ‘Do not worship any other god, I am a jealous God, and I do not play about that.’

15 ‘If you make deals with them, you will end up worshiping their gods and joining their wild feasts.’

16 ‘Then your sons will marry their daughters, and they will lead them to worship false gods.’

17 ‘Do not make idols for yourselves, none, at all.’

18 ‘Celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For seven days, eat bread without yeast like I commanded. Do this every year in the month of Abib, because that is when you all left Egypt.’

19 ‘Every firstborn belongs to Me, whether human or animal.’

20 ‘You can buy back your firstborn donkey with a lamb, but if you do not, break its neck. And buy back your firstborn sons. Do not come to Me empty-handed.’

21 ‘Work for six days, but rest on the seventh, even during planting and harvest season.’

22 ‘Celebrate the Feast of Weeks with the first harvest and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the season.’

23 ‘Three times a year, all Israelite men must come before Me, the Lord God of Israel.’

24 ‘When you do, do not worry, I will protect your land while you are gone.’

25 ‘Do not offer My sacrifices with bread made with yeast. And do not leave the meat from the Passover sacrifice until morning.’

26 ‘Bring the best of your first crops to My house. And do not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.’

Moses Stays with God and Returns Glowing

27 The Lord told Moses, ‘Write down everything I told you, because this is the covenant I am making with Israel.’

28 Moses stayed up there with the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights, no food, no water. And God wrote the Ten Commandments on the new tablets.

29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the tablets, his face was glowing because he had been with God, but he did not even know it.

30 When Aaron and the Israelites saw Moses’ face shining, they got scared and backed up.

31 But Moses called them over, and Aaron and the leaders came to him first.

32 Then the rest of the Israelites came, and Moses told them everything the Lord had commanded.

33 After he finished, Moses put a veil over his face.

34 But whenever he went in to talk to the Lord, he took the veil off until he came back out.

35 Then when the Israelites saw his face glowing, he would cover it again until the next time he talked to the Lord.