Add parallel Print Page Options

The Opportunity to Begin Again

10 At that same time the Lord said to me, “Carve out for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones and come up the mountain to me; also make for yourself a wooden ark.[a] I will write on the tablets the same words[b] that were on the first tablets you broke, and you must put them into the ark.” So I made an ark of acacia[c] wood and carved out two stone tablets just like the first ones. Then I went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hands. The Lord[d] then wrote on the tablets the same words,[e] the Ten Commandments,[f] which he[g] had spoken to you at the mountain from the middle of the fire at the time of that assembly, and he[h] gave them to me. Then I turned, went down the mountain, and placed the tablets into the ark I had made—they are still there, just as the Lord commanded me.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 10:1 tn Or “chest” (so NIV, CEV); NLT “sacred chest”; TEV “wooden box.” This chest was made of acacia wood; it is later known as the ark of the covenant.
  2. Deuteronomy 10:2 sn The same words. The care with which the replacement copy must be made underscores the importance of verbal precision in relaying the Lord’s commandments.
  3. Deuteronomy 10:3 sn Acacia wood (Hebshittim wood”). This is wood from the acacia, the most common timber tree of the Sinai region. Most likely it is the species Acacia raddiana because this has the largest trunk. See F. N. Hepper, Illustrated Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, 63.
  4. Deuteronomy 10:4 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  5. Deuteronomy 10:4 tn Heb “according to the former writing.” See note on the phrase “the same words” in v. 2.
  6. Deuteronomy 10:4 tn Heb “ten words.” The “Ten Commandments” are known in Hebrew as the “Ten Words,” which in Greek became the “Decalogue.”
  7. Deuteronomy 10:4 tn Heb “the Lord.” The pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.
  8. Deuteronomy 10:4 tn Heb “the Lord.” See note on “he” earlier in this verse.

10 “At that time Yahweh said to me, ‘Carve for yourself two tablets of stone just as the former ones, and come up the mountain to me, and you shall make for yourself an ark of wood. And I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets, which you smashed, and you must put them in the ark.’ And so I made an ark of acacia wood,[a] and I carved two tablets of stone like the former ones, and I went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hand. And he wrote upon the tablets according to the first writing,[b] the ten words that Yahweh spoke to you on the mountain from the midst of the fire on the day of the assembly, and Yahweh gave them to me. And I turned, and I came down from the mountain, and I put the tablets in the ark that I had made, and they are there, just as Yahweh commanded me.

Read full chapter

Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 10:3 Literally “of wood of acacia trees”
  2. Deuteronomy 10:4 Literally “as the writing the first”