Exodus 34
1 The LORD said to Moses, “Cut two stone tablets for yourself like the first ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
2 Be ready by morning. Come up Mount Sinai in the morning and present yourself to me there, at the top of the mountain.
3 No one is to come up with you, and no one is to be seen anywhere on the mountain. The sheep and cattle must not even graze in front of that mountain.”
4 Moses cut two stone tablets like the first ones. He got up early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, carrying the two stone tablets in his hand.
5 The LORD came down in the cloud, stood there with him, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.
6 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, “The LORD, the LORD, a compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger and great in faithful love and faithfulness,
7 showing faithful love to thousands, forgiving guilt, rebellion, and sin, yet by no means leaving the guilty unpunished; he brings the guilt of the parents upon their children and their children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”
8 Moses hurried, bowed down to the ground, and worshiped.
9 He said, “If I have found favor in your eyes, Lord, please let the Lord go among us, for this is a stubborn people. Forgive our guilt and our sin, and take us as your own inheritance.”
10 The LORD replied, “Look, I am making a covenant. In the sight of all your people I will do wonders never before done anywhere on earth or among any nation. All the people among whom you live will see the LORD’s work, for what I will do with you is awe-inspiring.
11 Keep what I command you today. I am going to drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
12 Be careful not to make a covenant with the people living in the land you are entering, or they will become a snare among you.”
13 “Instead, you must tear down their altars, smash their sacred pillars, and cut down their Asherah poles.
14 Do not bow down to another god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
15 Do not make a covenant with the people living in the land. Otherwise, when they prostitute themselves by following their gods and sacrifice to their gods, someone will invite you, and you will eat from his sacrifice.
16 You will take his daughters as wives for your sons, and his daughters will prostitute themselves by following their gods and lead your sons to do the same.
17 Do not make cast-metal gods for yourselves.
18 Observe the Festival of Unleavened Bread. For seven days eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the month of Abib, because you came out of Egypt in the month of Abib.
19 Everything that first opens the womb belongs to me, and so does every firstborn male of your livestock, whether cattle or sheep.
20 Redeem a donkey’s firstborn with a lamb; if you do not redeem it, break its neck. Redeem every firstborn of your sons. No one is to appear before me empty-handed.
21 You shall work for six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest. Even during plowing and harvest, you shall rest.
22 Celebrate the Festival of Weeks with the firstfruits of the wheat harvest, and the Festival of Ingathering at the turn of the year.
23 Three times a year all your men are to appear before the Lord, the LORD, the God of Israel.”
24 “For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your territory. No one will covet your land when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times a year.
25 Do not offer the blood of my sacrifice with anything leavened, and do not let the sacrifice of the Passover Festival remain until morning.
26 Bring the first of the firstfruits of your land to the house of the LORD your God. Do not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
27 The LORD said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in keeping with these words I make a covenant with you and with Israel.”
28 Moses remained there with the LORD for forty days and forty nights. He ate no bread and drank no water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Words.
29 When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hand, he did not know, as he came down from the mountain, that the skin of his face was shining because he had spoken with the LORD.
30 Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, and the skin of his face was shining, so they were afraid to come near him.
31 Moses called them, and Aaron and all the community leaders came back to him. Moses spoke with them.
32 After that, all the Israelites came near, and he commanded them to do everything the LORD had told him on Mount Sinai.
33 When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.
34 But whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took off the veil until he came out. When he came out, he told the Israelites what he had been commanded.
35 The Israelites saw Moses’ face, and the skin of Moses’ face was shining. Then Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with the LORD.
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