Exodus 34

1 And after this he said: “Cut out for yourself two tablets of stone similar to the first ones, and I will write upon them the words which were held on the tablets that you broke.

Yahweh said to Moses, “Cut two tablets of stone like the first tablets. I will write on these tablets the words that were on the first tablets, the tablets that you broke.

2 Be prepared in the morning, so that you may immediately ascend onto Mount Sinai, and you shall stand with me on the summit of the mountain.

Be ready by morning and come up Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me on the mountain top.

3 Let no one ascend with you, and do not let anyone be seen throughout the entire mountain. Likewise, do not let the oxen or the sheep pasture up against it.”

No one is to come up with you. Do not let anyone else be seen anywhere on the mountain. No flocks or herds are even to graze in front of the mountain.”

4 And so he cut out two tablets of stone, like those that were before. And rising up in the night, he ascended onto Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had instructed him, carrying with him the tablets.

So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first ones, and he got up early in the morning and went up Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had instructed him. Moses carried the tablets of stone in his hand.

5 And when the Lord had descended in a cloud, Moses stood with him, calling upon the name of the Lord.

Yahweh came down in the cloud and stood with Moses there, and he pronounced the name “Yahweh.”

6 And as he was crossing before him, he said: “The Ruler, the Lord God, merciful and lenient, patient and full of compassion and also truthful,

Yahweh passed by before him and proclaimed, “Yahweh, Yahweh, God is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in covenant faithfulness and trustworthiness,

7 who preserves mercy a thousand fold, who takes away iniquity, and wickedness, and also sin; and with you no one, in and of himself, is innocent. You render the iniquity of the fathers to the sons, and also to their descendants to the third and fourth generation.”

keeping covenant faithfulness for thousands of generations, forgiving iniquities, transgressions, and sins. But he will by no means clear the guilty. He will bring the punishment for the fathers' sin on their children and on their children's children, as far as the third and fourth generations.”

8 And hurrying, Moses bowed down prostrate to the ground; and worshiping,

Moses quickly bowed his head to the ground and worshiped.

9 he said: “If I have found grace in your sight, O Lord, I beg you to walk with us, (for the people are stiff-necked) and take away our iniquities and our sin, and so possess us.”

Then he said, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, my Lord, please go among us, for this people is stubborn. Pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as your inheritance.”

10 The Lord responded: “I will enter into a pact in the sight of all. I will perform signs which have never been seen on earth, nor among any nation, so that this people, in whose midst you are, may discern the terrible work of the Lord that I will do.

Yahweh said, “See, I am about to make a covenant. Before all your people, I will do marvels such as have not been done in all the earth nor in any nation. All the people among you will see my deeds, for it is a fearful thing that I am doing with you.

11 Observe everything that I command you this day. I myself will drive out before your face the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

Obey what I command you today. I am about to drive out before you the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.

12 Beware that you do not ever join in friendship with the inhabitants of that land, which may be your ruin.

Be careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, or they will become a trap among you.

13 But destroy their altars, break their statues, and cut down their sacred groves.

Instead, you must break down their altars, smash their stone pillars, and cut down their Asherah poles.

14 Do not be willing to worship any strange god. The jealous Lord is his name. God is a rival.

For you must worship no other god, for Yahweh, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

15 Do not enter into a pact with the men of those regions, lest, when they will have fornicated with their gods and worshiped their idols, someone might call upon you to eat from what was immolated.

So be careful not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for they prostitute themselves to their gods, and they sacrifice to their gods. Then one of them will invite you and you will eat some of his sacrifice,

16 Neither shall you take a wife for your son from their daughters, lest, after they themselves have fornicated, they may cause your sons also to fornicate with their gods.

and then you will even take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters will prostitute themselves to their gods, and they will make your sons prostitute themselves to their gods.

17 You shall not make for yourselves any molten gods.

Do not make for yourselves gods of molten metal.

18 You shall keep the solemnity of unleavened bread. For seven days, you shall eat unleavened bread, just as I instructed you, in the time of the month of what is new. For in the month of springtime you departed from Egypt.

You must keep the Festival of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you must eat bread without yeast for seven days at the fixed time in the month of Aviv, for it was in the month of Aviv you came out from Egypt.

19 All of the male kind, which open the womb, shall be mine: from all the animals, as much of oxen as of sheep, it shall be mine.

All the firstborn are mine, even every male firstborn of your cattle, both of oxen and sheep.

20 The firstborn of a donkey, you shall redeem with a sheep. But if you will not give a price for it, it shall be slain. The firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. You shall not appear empty in my sight.

You must buy back the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb, but if you do not buy it back, then you must break its neck. You must buy back all the firstborn of your sons. No one may appear before me empty-handed.

21 For six days you shall work. On the seventh day you shall cease to cultivate and to harvest.

You may work for six days, but on the seventh day you must rest. Even at plowing time and in harvest, you must rest.

22 You shall observe the Solemnity of Weeks with the first-fruits of the grain from the harvest of your wheat, and a Solemnity when the time of the year returns and everything is stored away.

You must observe the Festival of Weeks with the first yield of the wheat harvest, and you must observe the Festival of Ingathering at the year's end.

23 Three times a year, all your males shall appear in the sight of the Almighty, the Lord God of Israel.

Three times a year all your men must appear before Lord Yahweh, the God of Israel.

24 For when I will have taken away the nations before your face, and enlarged your borders, no one shall lie in wait against your land when you will go up to appear in the sight of the Lord your God, three times a year.

For I will drive out nations before you and expand your borders. No one will desire to have your land as their own when you go up to appear before Yahweh your God three times in a year.

25 You shall not immolate the blood of my victim over leaven; and there shall not remain, in the morning, any of the victim of the Solemnity of the Passover.

You must not offer the blood of my sacrifice with any yeast, nor may any meat from the sacrifice at the Festival of the Passover be left over to the morning.

26 The first of the fruits of your land you shall offer in the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in the milk of its mother.”

You must bring the best of the firstfruits from your fields to my house. You must not boil a young goat in its mother's milk.”

27 And the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words to you, through which I have formed a covenant, both with you and with Israel.”

Yahweh said to Moses, “Write down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

28 Therefore, he was in that place with the Lord for forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread and he did not drink water, and he wrote on the tablets the ten words of the covenant.

Moses was there with Yahweh for forty days and nights; he did not eat any food nor drink any water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.

29 And when Moses descended from Mount Sinai, he held the two tablets of the testimony, and he did not know that his face was radiant from the sharing of words with the Lord.

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant decrees in his hand, he did not know that the skin of his face had become radiant while speaking with God.

30 Then Aaron and the sons of Israel, seeing that the face of Moses was radiant, were afraid to approach close by.

When Aaron and the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him.

31 And being called by him, they turned back, both Aaron and the leaders of the assembly. And after he had spoken to them,

But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the community came up to him. Then Moses spoke with them.

32 all the sons of Israel also now came to him. And he instructed them in all the things that he had heard from the Lord on Mount Sinai.

After this, all the people of Israel came up to Moses, and he told them all the commands that Yahweh had given him on Mount Sinai.

33 And having completed these words, he placed a veil over his face.

When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face.

34 But when he entered to the Lord and was speaking with him, he took it off, until he exited. And then he spoke to the sons of Israel all that had been commanded to him.

Whenever Moses went before Yahweh to speak with him, he would remove the veil, until he came out. When he came out, he would tell the Israelites what he was commanded to say.

35 And they saw that the face of Moses, when he came out, was radiant, but he covered his face again, whenever he spoke to them.

When the Israelites saw Moses' face shining, he would put the veil over his face again until he went back in to speak with Yahweh.