Shemot 34
Orthodox Jewish Bible
34 And Hashem said unto Moshe, Chisel thee two Luchot Avanim like the first ones; and I will write upon these Luchot the divarim that were on the Luchot HaRishonim, which thou broke.
2 And be ready in the boker, and come up in the boker unto Mt.Sinai, and present thyself there to Me on the rosh HaHar.
3 And no ish shall come up with thee, neither let any ish be seen throughout kol HaHar; neither let the tzon nor herd graze in front of that Har.
4 And he chiseled two Luchot Avanim like the first ones; and Moshe rose up early in the boker, and went up unto Mt.Sinai, as Hashem had commanded him, and took in his yad the two Luchot Avanim.
5 And Hashem descended in the anan, and stood with him there, and called out the Shem of Hashem.
6 And Hashem passed by before him, and proclaimed, Hashem, Hashem El Rachum v’Channun, slow to anger, and abundant in chesed and emes,
7 Preserving chesed for thousands, forgiving avon and pesha and chatta’ah, and by no means leaving the guilty unpunished; visiting the avon of the avot upon the banim, and upon the bnei banim, unto the third and to the fourth generation.
8 And Moshe made haste, and bowed his head toward the ground, and worshiped.
9 And he said, If now I have found chen in Thy sight, Adonoi, let Adonoi, now, go among us; although it is an Am Kesheh Oref; and forgive avoneinu and chattateinu, and take us for Thine nachalah.
10 And He said, Hinei, I cut a brit; before all thy people I will do nifla’ot, such as have not been done in kol ha’aretz, nor in kol HaGoyim; and kol HaAm among which thou art shall see the ma’aseh Hashem; for it is a norah that I will do with thee.
11 Be thou shomer over that which I command thee this day; hinei, I drive out before thee the Emori, and the Kena’ani, and the Chitti, and the Perizzi, and the Chivi, and the Yevusi.
12 Be shomer over thyself, lest thou make a brit with the inhabitants of HaAretz whither thou goest, lest it be for a mokesh (snare) in the midst of thee;
13 But ye shall destroy their mizbechot, break their matzebot, and cut down their asherah (sacred trees, poles);
14 For thou shalt worship no el acher; for Hashem, Whose Shem is Jealous, is El Kanah;
15 Lest thou make a brit with the inhabitants of HaAretz, and they go awhoring after eloheihem, and do sacrifice unto eloheihem, and one invite thee, and thou eat of his zevach (sacrifice, i.e., participate in his pagan worship);
16 And thou take of their banot unto thy banim, and their banot go a-whoring after their elohim, and make thy banim go a-whoring after their elohim.
17 Thou shalt make thee no elohei massekhah.
18 The Chag Hamatzot shalt thou be shomer over. Shivat yamim thou shalt eat matzot, as I commanded thee, in the mo’ed of the month Aviv; for in the month Aviv thou camest out from Mitzrayim.
19 All that openeth the rechem (womb) is Mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or seh, that is zachar.
20 But the firstling of a donkey thou shalt redeem with a seh; and if thou redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. Kol bechor of thy banim thou shalt redeem. And none shall appear before Me empty.
21 Sheshet yamim thou shalt work, but on the yom hashevi’i thou shalt rest; in plowing and in harvest thou shalt rest.
22 And thou shalt observe Chag Shavu’os [Ac chp 2], with the firstfruits the ketzir chittim (wheat harvest), and the Chag HaAsif (Festival of Ingathering, Harvesttime [Yn chp 7]) shall be at the tekufat hashanah (changing, turning of the year).
23 Shalosh in the year shall all your men children appear before HaAdon Hashem Elohei Yisroel.
24 For I will drive out the Goyim before thee, and enlarge thy borders; neither shall any man covet thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear before Hashem Eloheicha shalosh in the shanah.
25 Thou shalt not offer the dahm of My zevach with chametz; neither shall the zevach of the Chag HaPesach be left overnight unto the boker.
26 The reshit bikkurim of thy land thou shalt bring unto the Beis Hashem Eloheicha. Thou shalt not cook a kid in cholov immo.
27 And Hashem said unto Moshe, Write thou these devarim; for according to these devarim I have cut a brit with thee and with Yisroel.
28 And he was there with Hashem arba’im yom and arba’im lailah; he did neither eat lechem, nor drink mayim. And he wrote upon the Luchot the Divrei HaBrit (Words of the Covenant), the Aseres Hadevarim (Ten Commandments).
29 And it came to pass, when Moshe came down from Mt. Sinai with the two Luchot HaEdut in the yad Moshe, when he came down from HaHar, that Moshe had no da’as that the ohr (skin) of his face had become radiant when he had spoken with Him.
30 And when Aharon and kol Bnei Yisroel saw Moshe, hinei, the ohr (skin) of his face was radiant; and they were afraid to come near him.
31 And Moshe called unto them; and Aharon and kol HaNesi’im of the Edah returned unto him; and Moshe spoke with them.
32 And afterward kol Bnei Yisroel came near; and he gave them in commandment all that Hashem had spoken with him in Mt Sinai.
33 When Moshe had finished speaking with them, he put a masveh (veil, mask) on his face.
34 But when Moshe went in before Hashem to speak with Him, he took the masveh off, until he came out. And he came out, and spoke unto the Bnei Yisroel that which he was commanded.
35 And the Bnei Yisroel saw the face of Moshe, that the ohr of the face of Moshe was radiant; and Moshe put the masveh upon his face again, until he went in to speak with Him.
Exodus 34
Living Bible
34 The Lord told Moses, “Prepare two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write upon them the same commands that were on the tablets you broke. 2 Be ready in the morning to come up into Mount Sinai and present yourself to me on the top of the mountain. 3 No one shall come with you and no one must be anywhere on the mountain. Do not let the flocks or herds feed close to the mountain.”
4 So Moses took two tablets of stone like the first ones, and was up early and climbed Mount Sinai, as the Lord had told him to, taking the two stone tablets in his hands.
5-6 Then the Lord descended in the form of a pillar of cloud and stood there with him, and passed in front of him and announced the meaning of his name.[a] “I am Jehovah, the merciful and gracious God,” he said, “slow to anger and rich in steadfast love and truth. 7 I, Jehovah, show this steadfast love to many thousands by forgiving their sins;[b] or else I refuse to clear the guilty, and require that a father’s sins be punished in the sons and grandsons, and even later generations.”
8 Moses fell down before the Lord and worshiped. 9 And he said, “If it is true that I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, then please go with us to the Promised Land; yes, it is an unruly, stubborn people, but pardon our iniquity and our sins, and accept us as your own.”
10 The Lord replied, “All right, this is the contract I am going to make with you. I will do miracles such as have never been done before anywhere in all the earth, and all the people of Israel shall see the power of the Lord—the terrible power I will display through you. 11 Your part of the agreement is to obey all of my commandments; then I will drive out from before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
12 “Be very, very careful never to compromise with the people there in the land where you are going, for if you do, you will soon be following their evil ways. 13 Instead, you must break down their heathen altars, smash the obelisks they worship, and cut down their shameful idols.[c] 14 For you must worship no other gods, but only Jehovah, for he is a God who claims absolute loyalty and exclusive devotion.
15 “No, do not make a peace treaty of any kind with the people living in the land, for they are spiritual prostitutes, committing adultery against me by sacrificing to their gods.[d] If you become friendly with them and one of them invites you to go with him and worship his idol, you are apt to do it. 16 And you would accept their daughters, who worship other gods, as wives for your sons—and then your sons would commit adultery against me by worshiping their wives’ gods. 17 You must have nothing to do with idols.
18 “Be sure to celebrate the Feast of Unleavened Bread for seven days, just as I instructed you, at the dates appointed each year in March; that was the month you left Egypt.
19 “Every firstborn male[e] is mine—cattle, sheep, and goats. 20 The firstborn colt of a donkey may be redeemed by giving a lamb in its place. If you decide not to redeem it, then its neck must be broken. But your sons must all be redeemed. And no one shall appear before me without a gift.
21 “Even during plowing and harvest times, work only six days, and rest on the seventh.
22 “And you must remember to celebrate these three annual religious festivals: the Festival of Weeks, the Festival of the First Wheat, and the Harvest Festival. 23 On each of these three occasions all the men and boys of Israel shall appear before the Lord. 24 No one will attack and conquer your land when you go up to appear before the Lord your God those three times each year. For I will drive out the nations from before you and enlarge your boundaries.
25 “You must not use leavened bread with your sacrifices to me, and none of the meat of the Passover lamb may be kept over until the following morning. 26 And you must bring the best of the first of each year’s crop to the Tabernacle of the Lord your God. You must not cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
27 And the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these laws[f] that I have given you, for they represent the terms of my covenant with you and with Israel.”
28 Moses was up on the mountain with the Lord for forty days and forty nights, and in all that time he neither ate nor drank. At that time God[g] wrote out the Covenant—the Ten Commandments—on the stone tablets.
29 Moses didn’t realize as he came back down the mountain with the tablets that his face glowed from being in the presence of God. 30 Because of this radiance upon his face, Aaron and the people of Israel were afraid to come near him.
31 But Moses called them over to him, and Aaron and the leaders of the congregation came and talked with him. 32 Afterwards, all the people came to him, and he gave them the commandments the Lord had given him upon the mountain. 33 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face;[h] 34 but whenever he went into the Tabernacle to speak with the Lord, he removed the veil until he came out again; then he would pass on to the people whatever instructions God had given him, 35 and the people would see his face aglow. Afterwards he would put the veil on again until he returned to speak with God.
Footnotes
- Exodus 34:5 announced the meaning of his name, literally, “proclaimed the name of Jehovah.”
- Exodus 34:7 forgiving their sins, literally, “forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin.” or else, implied.
- Exodus 34:13 shameful idols, or Asherim. They were carved statues of male and female genital organs.
- Exodus 34:15 they are spiritual prostitutes . . . sacrificing to their gods, literally, “they play the harlot worshiping their gods.”
- Exodus 34:19 Every firstborn male, literally, “All that opens the womb.”
- Exodus 34:27 Write down these laws, that is, the preceding laws in vv. 12-26.
- Exodus 34:28 At that time God, implied; see 34:1; Deuteronomy 10:1-4.
- Exodus 34:33 put a veil over his face, so that the people would not see the glory fade; see 2 Corinthians 3:13.
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