Exodus 34

Exodus · Chapter 34

Exodus 34:4

1And 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.2And 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.3And 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.4And 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.5And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.6And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,7Keeping 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.8And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.9And 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.10And 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.11Observe 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.12Take 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:13But ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:14For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:15Lest 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;16And 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.17Thou shalt make thee no molten gods.18The 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.19All that openeth the matrix is mine; and every firstling among thy cattle, whether ox or sheep, that is male.20But 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.21Six days thou shalt work, but on the seventh day thou shalt rest: in earing time and in harvest thou shalt rest.22And thou shalt observe the feast of weeks, of the firstfruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of ingathering at the year’s end.23Thrice in the year shall all your menchildren appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel.24For 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.25Thou 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.26The 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.27And 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.28And 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.29And 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.30And 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.31And Moses called unto them; and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned unto him: and Moses talked with them.32And 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.33And till Moses had done speaking with them, he put a vail on his face.34But 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.35And 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.

King James Version (1769)

Other translations

VerseKJVBSBASV
4And 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.So Moses chiseled out two stone tablets like the originals. He rose early in the morning, and taking the two stone tablets in his hands, he went up Mount Sinai as the LORD had commanded him.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 Jehovah had commanded him, and took in his hand two tables of stone.

In context

Who is speaking and to whom, what is happening, when and where, and why it matters, each with its sources. Coming with the context cards.

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Original Hebrew words

EnglishHebrewSay itStrong'sMeaning
and he cut outוַיִּפְסֹ֡לvai-yif-SOLH6458
to hew

פָּסַל (pa.sal) 1) to cut, hew, hew into shape 1a) (Qal) to hew, hew out, quarry

twoשְׁנֵֽי־she-nei-H8147
two

שְׁנַ֫יִם (she.na.yim) 1) two 1a) two (the cardinal number) 1a1) two, both, double, twice 1b) second (the ordinal number) 1c) in combination with other numbers 1d) both (a dual number)

tablets ofלֻחֹ֨תlu-CHOTH3871
tablet

לוּחַ (lu.ach) 1) board, slab, tablet, plank 1a) tablets (of stone) 1b) boards (of wood) 1c) plate (of metal)

stonesאֲבָנִ֜ים'a-va-NIMH0068G
stone

אֶ֫בֶן (e.ven) : stone 1) stone (large or small) 1a) common stone (in natural state) 1b) stone, as material 1b1) of tablets 1b2) marble, hewn stones 1c) precious stones, stones of fire 1d) stones containing metal (ore), tool for work or weapon 1e) weight 1f) plummet (stones of destruction) also made of metal 1g) stonelike objects, eg hailstones, stony heart, ice 1h) sacred object, as memorial Samuel set up to mark where God helped Israel to defeat the Philistines 1i) (simile) 1i1) sinking in water, motionlessness 1i2) strength, firmness, solidity 1i3) commonness 1j) (metaph) 1j1) petrified with terror …

like the former [tablets]כָּרִאשֹׁנִ֗יםka-ri-sho-NIMH7223G
first

רִאשׁוֹן (ri.shon) : first adj 1) first, primary, former 1a) former (of time) 1a1) ancestors 1a2) former things 1b) foremost (of location) 1c) first (in time) 1d) first, chief (in degree) adv 2) first, before, formerly, at first

and he rose earlyוַיַּשְׁכֵּ֨םvai-yash-KEMH7925
to rise

שָׁכַם (sha.kham) 1) to rise or start early 1a) (Hiphil) 1a1) to rise early, make an early start 1a2) early (as adverb)

Mosesמֹשֶׁ֤הmo-SHEHH4872
Moses

מְנַשֶּׁה (me.nash.sheh) A man of the tribe of Levi living at the time of Egypt and Wilderness, first mentioned at Exo.2.10; son of: Amram (H6019) and Jochebed (H3115); brother of: Aaron (H0175) and Miriam (H4813); married to Zipporah (H6855); father of: Gershom (H1647) and Eliezer (H0461H); also called Manasseh at Jdg.18.30(?) Another name of mo.sheh (מֹשֶׁה "Moses" H4872) § Manasseh = "causing to forget" 1) the eldest son of Joseph and progenitor of the tribe of Manasseh 1a) the tribe descended from Manasseh 1b) the territory occupied by the tribe of Manasseh …

in the morningבַבֹּ֙קֶר֙va-BO-kerH1242
morning

בֹּ֫קֶר (bo.qer) 1) morning, break of day 1a) morning 1a1) of end of night 1a2) of coming of daylight 1a3) of coming of sunrise 1a4) of beginning of day 1a5) of bright joy after night of distress (fig.) 1b) morrow, next day, next morning

and he went upוַיַּ֙עַל֙vai-YA-'alH5927G
to ascend: rise

עָלָה (a.lah) : rise/go 1) to go up, ascend, climb 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to go up, ascend 1a2) to meet, visit, follow, depart, withdraw, retreat 1a3) to go up, come up (of animals) 1a4) to spring up, grow, shoot forth (of vegetation) 1a5) to go up, go up over, rise (of natural phenomenon) 1a6) to come up (before God) 1a7) to go up, go up over, extend (of boundary) 1a8) to excel, be superior to 1b) (Niphal) 1b1) to be taken up, be brought up, be taken away 1b2) to take oneself away 1b3) to be exalted 1c) (Hiphil) 1c1) to bring up, cause to ascend or climb, cause to go up 1c2) to bring up, bring against, take away …

toאֶל־'el-H0413
to(wards)

אֶל (el) 1) to, toward, unto (of motion) 2) into (limit is actually entered) 2a) in among 3) toward (of direction, not necessarily physical motion) 4) against (motion or direction of a hostile character) 5) in addition to, to 6) concerning, in regard to, in reference to, on account of 7) according to (rule or standard) 8) at, by, against (of one's presence) 9) in between, in within, to within, unto (idea of motion to)

[the] mountain ofהַ֣רharH2022G
mountain: mount

הַר (har) : mount/hill hill, mountain, hill country, mount

Sinaiסִינַ֔יsi-NAIH5514G
Horeb

חֹרֵב (cho.rev) Horeb = "desert" another name for Mount Sinai from which God gave the law to Moses and the Israelites Another name of si.nay (סִינַי "Sinai" H5514G)

just asכַּאֲשֶׁ֛רka-'a-SHERH0834D
as which

כַּאֲשֶׁר (ka.a.sher) conj 1) according as, as, when 1a) according to that which, according as, as 1b) with a causal force: in so far as, since 1c) with a temporal force: when

he had commandedצִוָּ֥הtzi-VAHH6680
to command

צָוָה (tsa.vah) 1) to command, charge, give orders, lay charge, give charge to, order 1a)(Piel) 1a1) to lay charge upon 1a2) to give charge to, give command to 1a3) to give charge unto 1a4) to give charge over, appoint 1a5) to give charge, command 1a6) to charge, command 1a7) to charge, commission 1a8) to command, appoint, ordain (of divine act) 1b) (Pual) to be commanded

Yahwehיְהוָ֖הYAH-wehH3068G
Lord

אֲדֹנָי (a.do.nai) Lord - a title, spoken in place of Yahweh in Jewish display of reverence Another name of ye.ho.vah (יהוה "LORD" H3068G)

and he tookוַיִּקַּ֣חvai-yi-KACHH3947G
to take: take

לָקַח (la.qach) : take 1) to take, get, fetch, lay hold of, seize, receive, acquire, buy, bring, marry, take a wife, snatch, take away 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to take, take in the hand 1a2) to take and carry along 1a3) to take from, take out of, take, carry away, take away 1a4) to take to or for a person, procure, get, take possession of, select, choose, take in marriage, receive, accept 1a5) to take up or upon, put upon 1a6) to fetch 1a7) to take, lead, conduct 1a8) to take, capture, seize 1a9) to take, carry off 1a10) to take (vengeance) 1b) (Niphal) 1b1) to be captured 1b2) to be taken away, be removed …

in hand hisבְּיָד֔וֹbe-ya-DOH3027G
hand

יָד (yad) : hand/arm[anatomy] 1) hand 1a) hand (of man) 1b) strength, power (fig.) 1c) side (of land), part, portion (metaph.) (fig.) 1d) (various special, technical senses) 1d1) sign, monument 1d2) part, fractional part, share 1d3) time, repetition 1d4) axle-trees, axle 1d5) stays, support (for laver) 1d6) tenons (in tabernacle) 1d7) a phallus, a hand (meaning unsure) 1d8) wrists

twoשְׁנֵ֖יshe-NEIH8147
two

שְׁנַ֫יִם (she.na.yim) 1) two 1a) two (the cardinal number) 1a1) two, both, double, twice 1b) second (the ordinal number) 1c) in combination with other numbers 1d) both (a dual number)

tablets ofלֻחֹ֥תlu-CHOTH3871
tablet

לוּחַ (lu.ach) 1) board, slab, tablet, plank 1a) tablets (of stone) 1b) boards (of wood) 1c) plate (of metal)

stonesאֲבָנִֽים׃'a-va-NIMH0068G
stone

אֶ֫בֶן (e.ven) : stone 1) stone (large or small) 1a) common stone (in natural state) 1b) stone, as material 1b1) of tablets 1b2) marble, hewn stones 1c) precious stones, stones of fire 1d) stones containing metal (ore), tool for work or weapon 1e) weight 1f) plummet (stones of destruction) also made of metal 1g) stonelike objects, eg hailstones, stony heart, ice 1h) sacred object, as memorial Samuel set up to mark where God helped Israel to defeat the Philistines 1i) (simile) 1i1) sinking in water, motionlessness 1i2) strength, firmness, solidity 1i3) commonness 1j) (metaph) 1j1) petrified with terror …

Words and meanings from STEPBible data (Tyndale House, Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). The capitalized syllable is the stressed one.