34:1
And the LORD said unto
Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will
write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.
(34:1) I will write upon these tables.
God tells Moses to cut some stone tablets to replace the ones that Moses broke when he saw the people dancing naked
around Aaron's golden calf. God will write a new set of commandments on these new tablets.
34:2
And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai,
and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount.
(34:2-3) No man shall come up with thee.
He tells him to climb up mount Sinai in the morning--alone. Don't bring any people or animals with you.
34:3
And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout
all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount.
34:4
And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and Moses rose up
early in the morning, and went up unto mount Sinai, as the LORD had
commanded him, and took in his hand the two tables of stone.
(34:4) He hewed two tables of stone.
So Moses cuts two tablets that were like the first ones. Then, early the next morning, he carried the tablets up mount Sinai.
34:5
And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and
proclaimed the name of the LORD.
(34:5-7) The LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there.
When Moses got to the top of the mountain, God descended in a cloud and stood there with him, while making a little speech. He introduced himself
to Moses, saying:
"I am the Lord, the Lord God, merciful, gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth. I am merciful and forgiving, although I
punish children for what their fathers did, even for what their great-great grandfathers did a hundred years before they were born."
(34:7) Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children,
and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth generation
(34:8-9) Bowed his head toward the earth
Moses bowed down so low that his head touched the ground, and said, "please don't hurt us."
34:6
And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God,
merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and
truth,
34:7
Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,
and that will by no means clear the guilty; visiting the iniquity of the
fathers upon the children, and upon the children's children, unto the third and to the fourth
generation.
34:8
And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.
34:9
And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O LORD, let my LORD,
I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our
iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.
34:10
And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do
marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and
all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for
it
is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.
(34:10-11) It is a terrible thing that I will do.
God said he'll make a deal with them. He'll do "terrible" things for them (like drive out neighboring tribes)
if they'll obey the commandments that he gives them today.
(34:11) I drive out before thee the Amorite
God promises to drive out the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and the Jebusites for the Israelites, if they'll follow the
commandments that he gives them today. How should the Canaanites be treated?
(34:13-14) Ye shall destroy their altars.
God, whose name is Jealous, will not tolerate the worship of any other god.
34:11
Observe thou that which I command thee this day:
behold, I drive out
before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
34:12
Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of
the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:
34:13
But ye shall destroy their
altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:
34:14
For thou shalt worship no
other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a
jealous God:
(34:14) The LORD, whose name is Jealous
God's name is Jealous.
34:15
Lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they go a
whoring after their gods, and do sacrifice unto their gods, and one call thee, and thou
eat of his sacrifice;
34:16
And thou take of their daughters unto thy sons, and their
daughters go a whoring after their gods, and make
thy sons go a whoring after their gods.
(34:16) Go a whoring
God always blames the women; they're alway going a whoring, then they make the men go a whoring too.
34:18
The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat
unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib: for in
the month Abib thou camest out from Egypt.
34:19
All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle,
whether ox or sheep, that is male.
34:20
But the firstling of an ass thou shalt redeem with a lamb: and if thou
redeem him not, then shalt thou break his neck. All the firstborn of thy sons thou shalt redeem.
And none shall appear before me empty.
(34:20) Then shalt thou break his neck.
Instead of sacrificing your firstborn son to God, you can substitute an ass or a lamb.
34:21
Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in
earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.
34:22
And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat
harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.
34:23
Thrice in the year
shall all your menchildren appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel.
(34:23) All your menchildren
"Thrice in the year shall all your menchildren appear before the Lord." What about the "women children"? Does God ever want to see them?
34:24
For I will cast out the nations before thee, and enlarge thy borders:
neither shall any man desire thy land, when thou shalt go up to appear
before the LORD thy God thrice in the year.
34:25
Thou shalt not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven; neither shall
the sacrifice of the feast of the passover be left unto the morning.
34:26
The first of the firstfruits of thy land thou shalt bring unto the house
of the LORD thy God. Thou shalt not seethe a kid in his mother's
milk.
34:27
And the LORD said unto
Moses, Write thou these words: for after the tenor of these words I have
made a covenant with thee and with Israel.
(34:28) Forty days and forty nights
While Moses was up on mount Sinai with God, he went without food or water for 40 days and nights.
(34:28) The Ten Commandments
This is set of commandments that God wrote in this chapter
to replace the ones that Moses broke a couple chapters ago. So I guess this is the official list.
Thou shalt not make covenants with neighboring tribes (v.12).
Thou shalt destroy the altars of other religions. (v.13)
Thou shalt not offer blood sacrifices with leaven. (v.25)
Thou shalt bring your first fruits to the house of the Lord. (v.26a)
Thou shalt not boil a kid in its mother's milk. (v.26b)
(34:30-33) He put a vail on his face.
After meeting God on mount Sinai, Moses's face shone, so he had to cover his face with a veil to avoid frightening the
Israelites.
34:28
And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did
neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
34:29
And it came to pass, when Moses came down from mount Sinai with the two
tables of testimony in Moses' hand, when he came down from the mount, that
Moses wist not that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him.
The Shining Face of Moses
34:30
And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin
of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.
34:31
And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the
congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them.
34:32
And afterward all the children of Israel came nigh: and he gave them in
commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him in mount Sinai.
34:33 And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face.
34:34
But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the vail
off, until he came out. And he came out, and spake unto the children of
Israel that which he was commanded.
34:35
And the children of Israel saw the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses'
face shone: and Moses put the vail upon his face again, until he went in to
speak with him.
Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee.
34:12
The feast of unleavened bread shalt thou keep. Seven days thou shalt eat unleavened bread, as I commanded thee, in the time of the month Abib. ...
Thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year's end.
34:18-22
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