Exodus 34:18-35

Easy-to-Read Version

¹⁸ “Celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days, eat the bread made without yeast as I commanded you before. Do this during the month I have chosen, the month of Abib, because that is the month you came out of Egypt.

¹⁹ “A woman’s first baby always belongs to me. Even the first animals that are born from your cattle or sheep belong to me. ²⁰ If you want to keep a donkey that is the first born, then you can buy it with a lamb. But if you don’t buy that donkey with a lamb, you must break the donkey’s neck. You must buy back all of your firstborn sons from me. No one should come before me without a gift.

²¹ “You will work for six days, but on the seventh day you must rest. You must rest even during the times of planting and harvesting.

²² “Celebrate the Festival of Harvest. Use the first grain from the wheat harvest for this festival. And in the fall^[a] celebrate the Festival of Shelters.

²³ “Three times each year all your men must go to be with the Lord God, the God of Israel.

²⁴ “When you go into your land, I will force your enemies out of that land. I will expand your borders—you will get more and more land. You will go before the Lord your God three times each year. At that time no one will try to take your land from you.

²⁵ “When you kill an animal and offer its blood as a sacrifice, you must not include anything that has yeast in it.

“Don’t let any of the meat from the Passover meal remain until morning.

²⁶ “Give the Lord the very first crops that you harvest. Bring them to the house^[b] of the Lord your God.

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

²⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write everything that I have told you. This is the agreement that I made with you and the Israelites.”

²⁸ Moses stayed there with the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights. Moses did not eat any food or drink any water. And he wrote the words of the agreement (the Ten Commandments) on the two stone tablets.

Moses’ Shining Face

²⁹ When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, he carried the two stone tablets of the agreement. Because he had talked with the Lord, his face was shining, but he did not know it. ³⁰ Aaron and all the people of Israel saw that Moses’ face was shining bright. So they were afraid to go near him. ³¹ But Moses called to them. So Aaron and all the leaders of the people went to him. Moses talked with them. ³² After that all the Israelites came near Moses, and he gave them the commands that the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.

³³ When Moses finished speaking to the people, he put a covering over his face. ³⁴ Any time Moses went before the Lord to speak with him, Moses took off the covering. Then Moses would come out and tell the Israelites what the Lord commanded. ³⁵ The people would see that Moses’ face was shining bright, so he would cover his face again. He kept his face covered until the next time he went in to speak with the Lord.