The Two Tablets Replaced

34 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Cut out for yourself ^(A)two stone tablets like the former ones, and ^(B)I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you smashed. ² So be ready by morning, and come up in the morning to ^(C)Mount Sinai, and ^[a]present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain. ³ And ^(D)no one is to come up with you, nor let anyone be seen ^[b]anywhere on the mountain; even the flocks and the herds are not to graze in front of that mountain.” ⁴ So he cut out ^(E)two stone tablets like the former ones, and Moses got up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and he took the two stone tablets in his hand. ⁵ And ^(F)the Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he ^[c]called upon the name of the Lord. ⁶ Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, ^(G)compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and ^[d]truth; ⁷ who ^(H)keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin; yet He ^(I)will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, ^(J)inflicting the ^[e]punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” ⁸ And Moses hurried ^[f](K)to bow low toward the ground and worship. ⁹ Then he said, “^(L)If in any way I have found favor in Your sight, Lord, please may the Lord go along in our midst, even though ^[g](M)the people are so obstinate, and ^(N)pardon our wrongdoing and our sin, and ^(O)take us as Your own ^[h]possession.”

Moses’ Face Shines

²⁹ And it came about, when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the ^(A)two tablets of the testimony were in Moses’ hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that ^(B)the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him. ³⁰ So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and ^(C)they were afraid to approach him. ³¹ Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers in the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them. ³² Afterward all the sons of Israel came near, and he commanded them to do everything that the Lord had spoken ^[a]to him on Mount Sinai. ³³ When Moses had finished speaking with them, ^(D)he put a veil over his face. ³⁴ But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, ^(E)he would take off the veil until he came out; and whenever he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel what he had been commanded, ^35 (F)the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone. So Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with Him.

⁷ But if the ^(A)ministry of death, engraved ^(B)in letters on stones, came ^[a]with glory ^(C)so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was, ⁸ how will the ministry of the Spirit fail to be even more with glory? ⁹ For if ^(D)the ministry of condemnation has glory, much more does the ^(E)ministry of righteousness excel in glory. ¹⁰ For indeed what had glory in this case has no glory, because of the glory that surpasses it. ¹¹ For if that which fades away was ^[b]with glory, much more that which remains is in glory.

^12 (F)Therefore, having such a hope, ^(G)we use great boldness in our speech, ¹³ and we are not like Moses, ^(H)who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not stare at the end of what was fading away. ¹⁴ But their minds were ^(I)hardened; for until this very day at the ^(J)reading of ^(K)the old covenant the same veil ^[c]remains unlifted, because it is removed in Christ. ¹⁵ But to this day whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts; ^16 (L)but whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. ¹⁷ Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where ^(M)the Spirit of the Lord is, ^(N)there is freedom. ¹⁸ But we all, with unveiled faces, ^(O)looking as in a mirror at the ^(P)glory of the Lord, are being ^(Q)transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from ^(R)the Lord, the Spirit.