¹² Moses said to Yahweh, “You’ve been telling me to lead these people, but you haven’t let me know whom you’re sending with me. You’ve also said, ‘I know you by name, and I’m pleased with you.’ ¹³ If you really are pleased with me, show me your ways so that I can know you and so that you will continue to be pleased with me. Remember: This nation is your people.”

¹⁴ Yahweh answered, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you peace.”

¹⁵ Then Moses said to him, “If your presence is not going with us, don’t make us leave this place. ¹⁶ How will anyone ever know you’re pleased with your people and me unless you go with us? Then we will be different from all other people on the face of the earth.”

¹⁷ Yahweh answered Moses, “I will do what you have asked, because I am pleased with you, and I know you by name.”

¹⁸ Then Moses said, “Please let me see your glory.”

¹⁹ Yahweh said, “I will let all my goodness pass in front of you, and there I will call out my name ‘Yahweh.’ I will be kind to anyone I want to. I will be merciful to anyone I want to. ²⁰ But you can’t see my face, because no one may see me and live.”

²¹ Then Yahweh said, “Look, there’s a place near me. Stand by this rocky cliff. ²² When my glory passes by, I will put you in a crevice in the cliff and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take my hand away, and you’ll see my back, but my face must not be seen.”

The Lord Meets with Moses on the Mountain

34 Yahweh said to Moses, “Cut two more stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets which you smashed. ² Be ready in the morning. Then come up on Mount Sinai, and stand in my presence on the top of the mountain. ³ No one may come with you or even be seen anywhere on the mountain. Even the flocks and herds may not graze in front of this mountain.”

⁴ So Moses cut two more stone tablets like the first ones. Early the next morning he went up on Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him, carrying the two stone tablets.

⁵ Yahweh came down in a cloud and stood there with him and called out his name “Yahweh.”

⁶ Then Yahweh passed in front of Moses, calling out, “Yahweh, Yahweh, a compassionate and merciful El, patient, always faithful and ready to forgive. ⁷ He continues to show his love to thousands of generations, forgiving wrongdoing, disobedience, and sin. He never lets the guilty go unpunished, punishing children and grandchildren for their parents’ sins to the third and fourth generation.”

⁸ Immediately, Moses knelt, bowing with his face touching the ground. ⁹ Then he said, “Adonay, please go with us! Even though we are impossible to deal with, forgive our sin and the wrong we have done, and accept us as your own people.”

The Lord Makes His Promise with Israel Again

¹⁰ Yahweh said, “I’m making my promise^[a] again. In front of all your people I will perform miracles that have never been done in any other nation in all the world. All the people around you will see how awesome these miracles are that I will perform for you. ¹¹ Do everything that I command today. Then I will force the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites out of your way. ¹² Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you’re going. This will prove to be a trap to you. ¹³ But tear down their altars, crush their sacred stones, and cut down their poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah. ¹⁴ (Never worship any other god, because Yahweh is El Kanna. In fact, he is known for not tolerating rivals.) ¹⁵ Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in that land. When they chase after their gods as though they were prostitutes and sacrifice to them, they may invite you to eat the meat from their sacrifices with them. ¹⁶ Then your sons will end up marrying their daughters. When their daughters chase after their gods as though they were prostitutes, they’ll lead your sons to do the same thing.

¹⁷ “Never make an idol.

¹⁸ “You must celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you must eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, because in that month you came out of Egypt.

¹⁹ “Every first male offspring is mine, even the firstborn males^[b] of all your livestock, whether cattle, sheep, or goats. ²⁰ It will cost you a sheep or a goat to buy back the firstborn donkey. If you don’t buy it back, then you must break the donkey’s neck. You must buy back every firstborn of your sons.

“No one may come into my presence without an offering.

²¹ “You may work six days, but on the seventh day you must not work. Even during the time of plowing or harvesting you must not work on this day.

²² “You must celebrate the Festival of Weeks with the first grain from your wheat harvest, and the Festival of the Final Harvest at the end of the season.

²³ “Three times a year all your men must come into the presence of the Adonay, Yahweh Elohim of Israel. ²⁴ I will force nations out of your way and will expand your country’s borders. No one will want to take away your land while you’re gone three times a year to Yahweh’s festivals.

²⁵ “Never offer the blood of a sacrifice to me at the same time you offer anything containing yeast. No part of the sacrifice at the Passover Festival should be left over in the morning.

²⁶ “You must bring the first and best of the produce harvested from your soil to the house of Yahweh your Elohim.

“Never cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

Annual Sacrifices

¹⁶ “The fourteenth day of the first month is Yahweh’s Passover. ¹⁷ The fifteenth of this same month is a pilgrimage festival. For seven days you must eat only unleavened bread. ¹⁸ On the first day there will be a holy assembly. Don’t do any regular work. ¹⁹ Instead, bring Yahweh an offering by fire, a burnt offering of two young bulls, one ram, and seven one-year-old lambs, all of them without defects. ²⁰ Along with them bring grain offerings of flour mixed with olive oil. Bring 24 cups for each bull, 16 cups for each ram, ²¹ and 8 cups for each of the seven lambs. ²² Also bring one male goat as an offering for sin to make peace with the Lord. ²³ Offer these in addition to the morning burnt offering. ²⁴ Bring all these offerings on each of the seven days. They are food. They are offerings by fire, a soothing aroma to Yahweh. They will be offered in addition to the daily burnt offering and the wine offering that goes with it. ²⁵ On the seventh day you must have a holy assembly. You must not do any regular work.

²⁶ “During the Festival of Weeks, you must have a holy assembly. On that day you must not do any regular work. Bring Yahweh your new grain offering, the first produce harvested from your fields. ²⁷ Bring a burnt offering as a soothing aroma to Yahweh—two young bulls, one ram, and seven one-year-old lambs. ²⁸ Along with them bring grain offerings of flour mixed with olive oil. Bring 24 cups for each bull, 16 cups for each ram, ²⁹ and 8 cups for each of the seven lambs. ³⁰ Also bring one male goat to make peace with the Lord. ³¹ Offer these animals that have no defects along with their wine offerings, in addition to the daily burnt offerings and their grain offerings.”