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15 Then Moses turned and went down the mountain. He held in his hands the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant.[a] They were inscribed on both sides, front and back. 16 These tablets were God’s work; the words on them were written by God himself.

17 When Joshua heard the boisterous noise of the people shouting below them, he exclaimed to Moses, “It sounds like war in the camp!”

18 But Moses replied, “No, it’s not a shout of victory nor the wailing of defeat. I hear the sound of a celebration.”

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Footnotes

  1. 32:15 Hebrew the two tablets of the Testimony; see note on 25:16.

15 Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the covenant law(A) in his hands.(B) They were inscribed(C) on both sides, front and back. 16 The tablets were the work of God; the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.(D)

17 When Joshua(E) heard the noise of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “There is the sound of war in the camp.”

18 Moses replied:

“It is not the sound of victory,
    it is not the sound of defeat;
    it is the sound of singing that I hear.”

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