Exodus 34
Douay-Rheims 1899 American Edition
34 And after this he said: Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the former, and I will write upon them the words which were in the tables, which thou brokest.
2 Be ready in the morning, that thou mayst forthwith go up into mount Sinai, and thou shalt stand with me upon the top of the mount.
3 Let no man go up with thee: and let not any man be seen throughout all the mount: neither let the oxen nor the sheep feed over against it.
4 Then he cut out two tables of stone, such as had been before: and rising very early he went up into the mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, carrying with him the tables.
5 And when the Lord was come down in a cloud, Moses stood with him, calling upon the name of the Lord.
6 And when he passed before him, he said: O the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, patient and of much compassion, and true,
7 Who keepest mercy unto thousands: who takest away iniquity, and wickedness, and sin, and no man of himself is innocent before thee. Who renderest the iniquity of the fathers to the children, and to the grandchildren, unto the third and fourth generation.
8 And Moses making haste, bowed down prostrate unto the earth, and adoring,
9 Said: If I have found grace in thy sight: O Lord, I beseech thee, that thou wilt go with us, (for it is a stiffnecked people,) and take away our iniquities and sin, and possess us.
10 The Lord answered: I will make a covenant in the sight of all. I will do signs such as were never seen upon the earth, nor in any nation: that this people, in the midst of whom thou art, may see the terrible work of the Lord which I will do.
11 Observe all things which this day I command thee: I myself will drive out before thy face the Amorrhite, and the Chanaanite, and the Hethite, and the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite.
12 Beware thou never join in friendship with the inhabitants of that land, which may be thy ruin:
13 But destroy their altars, break their statues, and cut down their groves:
14 Adore not any strange god. The Lord his name is Jealous, he is a jealous God.
15 Make no covenant with the men of those countries lest, when they have committed fornication with their gods, and have adored their idols, some one call thee to eat of the things sacrificed.
16 Neither shalt thou take of their daughters a wife for thy son, lest after they themselves have committed fornication, they make thy sons also to commit fornication with their gods.
17 Thou shalt not make to thyself any molten gods.
18 Thou shalt keep the feast of the unleavened bread. Seven days shalt thou eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee in the time of the month of the new corn: for in the month of the springtime thou camest out from Egypt.
19 All of the male kind, that openeth the womb, shall be mine. Of all beasts, both of oxen and of sheep, it shall be mine.
20 The firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a sheep: but if thou wilt not give a price for it, it shall be slain. The firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem: neither shalt thou appear before me empty.
21 Six days shalt thou work, the seventh day thou shalt cease to plough, and to reap.
22 Thou shalt keep the feast of weeks with the firstfruits of the corn of thy wheat harvest, and the feast when the time of the year returneth that all things are laid in.
23 Three times in a year all thy males shall appear in the sight of the Almighty Lord the God of Israel.
24 For when I shall have taken away the nations from thy face, and shall have enlarged thy borders, no man shall lie in wait against thy land when thou shalt go up, and appear in the sight of the Lord thy God thrice in a year.
25 Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice upon leaven: neither shall there remain in the morning any thing of the victim of the solemnity of the Lord.
26 The first of the fruits of thy ground thou shalt offer in the house of the Lord thy God. Thou shalt not boil a kid in the milk of his dam.
27 And the Lord said to Moses: Write these words by which I have made a covenant both with thee and with Israel.
28 And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights: he neither ate bread nor drank water, and he wrote upon the tables the ten words of the covenant.
29 And when Moses came down from the mount Sinai, he held the two tables of the testimony, and he knew not that his face was horned from the conversation of the Lord.
30 And Aaron and the children of Israel seeing the face of Moses horned, were afraid to come near.
31 And being called by him, they returned, both Aaron and the rulers of the congregation. And after that he spoke to them.
32 And all the children of Israel came to him: and he gave them in commandment all that he had heard of the Lord in mount Sinai.
33 And having done speaking, he put a veil upon his face.
34 But when he went in to the Lord, and spoke with him, he took it away until he came forth, and then he spoke to the children of Israel all things that had been commanded him.
35 And they saw that the face of Moses when he came out was horned, but he covered his face again, if at any time he spoke to them.
Exodus 34
Contemporary English Version
The Second Set of Commandments
(Deuteronomy 10.1-5)
34 One day the Lord said to Moses, “Cut two flat stones like the first ones I made, and I will write on them the same commandments that were on the two you broke. 2 Be ready tomorrow morning to come up Mount Sinai and meet me at the top. 3 No one is to come with you or to be on the mountain at all. Don't even let the sheep and cattle graze at the foot of the mountain.” 4 So Moses cut two flat stones like the first ones, and early the next morning he carried them to the top of Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded.
5 The Lord God came down in a cloud and stood beside Moses there on the mountain. God spoke his holy name, “the Lord.”[a] 6 (A) Then he passed in front of Moses and called out, “I am the Lord God. I am merciful and very patient with my people. I show great love, and I can be trusted. 7 I keep my promises to my people forever, but I also punish anyone who sins. When people sin, I punish them and their children, and also their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”
8 Moses quickly bowed down to the ground and worshiped the Lord. 9 He prayed, “Lord, if you really are pleased with me, I pray that you will go with us. It is true that these people are sinful and rebellious, but forgive our sin and let us be your people.”
A Promise and Its Demands
(Exodus 23.14-19; Deuteronomy 7.1-5; 16.1-17)
10 The Lord said:
I promise to perform miracles for you that have never been seen anywhere on earth. Neighboring nations will stand in fear and know that I was the one who did these marvelous things. 11 I will force out the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, but you must do what I command you today. 12 Don't make treaties with any of those people. If you do, it will be like falling into a trap. 13 (B) Instead, you must destroy their altars and tear down the sacred poles[b] they use in the worship of the goddess Asherah. 14 I demand your complete loyalty—you must not worship any other god! 15 Don't make treaties with the people there, or you will soon find yourselves worshiping their gods and taking part in their sacrificial meals. 16 Your men will even marry their women and be influenced to worship their gods.
17 (C) Don't make metal images of gods.
18 (D) Don't fail to observe the Festival of Thin Bread in the month of Abib.[c] Obey me and eat bread without yeast for seven days during Abib, because that is the month you left Egypt.
19 (E) The first-born males of your families and of your flocks and herds belong to me.
20 (F) You can save the life of a first-born donkey[d] by sacrificing a lamb; if you don't, you must break the donkey's neck. You must save every first-born son.
Bring an offering every time you come to worship.
21 (G) Work for six days and rest on the seventh day, even during the seasons for plowing and harvesting. 22 (H) Celebrate the Harvest Festival[e] each spring when you start harvesting your wheat, and celebrate the Festival of Shelters[f] each autumn when you pick your fruit.
23 Your men must come to worship me three times a year, because I am the Lord God of Israel. 24 As you advance, I will force the nations out of your land and enlarge your borders. Then no one will try to take your property when you come to worship me these three times each year.
25 (I) When you sacrifice an animal on the altar, don't offer bread made with yeast. And don't save any part of the Passover meal for the next day.
26 (J) I am the Lord your God, and you must bring the first part of your harvest to the place of worship.
Don't boil a young goat in its mother's milk.
27 The Lord told Moses to put these laws in writing, as part of his agreement with Israel. 28 Moses stayed on the mountain with the Lord for 40 days and nights, without eating or drinking. And he wrote down the Ten Commandments, the most important part of God's agreement with his people.
Moses Comes Down from Mount Sinai
29 (K) Moses came down from Mount Sinai, carrying the Ten Commandments. His face was shining brightly because the Lord had been speaking to him. But Moses did not know at first that his face was shining. 30 When Aaron and the others looked at Moses, they saw this, and they were afraid to go near him. 31 Moses called out for Aaron and the leaders to come to him, and he spoke with them. 32 Then the rest of the people of Israel gathered around Moses, and he gave them the laws that the Lord had given him on Mount Sinai.
33 The face of Moses kept shining, and after he had spoken with the people, he covered his face with a veil. 34 Moses would always remove the veil when he went into the sacred tent to speak with the Lord. And when he came out, he would tell the people everything the Lord had told him to say. 35 They could see that his face was still shining. So after he had spoken with them, he would put the veil back on and leave it on until the next time he went to speak with the Lord.
Footnotes
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