Exodus 34:1-14

Moses Makes New Tablets

1 The LORD said to Moses, ¹"Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, ²and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, ³which you broke.

2 Be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai, and present yourself there to me ⁴on the top of the mountain.

3 No ⁵one shall come up with you, and let no one be seen throughout all the mountain. Let no flocks or herds graze opposite that mountain."

4 So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the first. And he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand two tablets of stone.

5 The LORD ⁶descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and ⁷proclaimed the name of the LORD.

6 The LORD passed before him and proclaimed, ⁸"The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and ⁹gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in steadfast ¹⁰love and faithfulness,

7 ¹¹keeping steadfast love for thousands,^[a]12forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, but ¹³who will by no means clear the guilty, ¹⁴visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children and the children's children, to the third and the fourth generation."

8 And Moses quickly ¹⁵bowed his head toward the earth and worshiped.

9 And he said, "If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, please ¹⁶let the Lord go in the midst of us, for ¹⁷it is a stiff-necked people, and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for ¹⁸your inheritance."

The Covenant Renewed

10 And he said, "Behold, ¹⁹I am making a covenant. Before all your people ²⁰I will do marvels, such as have not been created in all the earth or in any nation. And all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD, for it is an ²¹awesome thing that I will do with you.

11 "Observe what I command you this day. Behold, ²²I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

12 ²³Take care, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you go, lest it become a ²⁴snare in your midst.

13 You shall ²⁵tear down their altars and ²⁶break their pillars and cut down their ²⁷Asherim

14 (for ²⁸you shall worship no other god, for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God),

Exodus 34:1-14 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO EXODUS 34

In this chapter Moses has orders to hew two tables of stone, that God might write on them the ten commands, and bring them up with him to the mount, Ex 34:1-4 where the Lord proclaimed his name, and caused his glory and his goodness to pass before him, Ex 34:5-7 when Moses took this favourable opportunity that offered to pray for the people, that God would forgive their sin, and go along with them, Ex 34:8,9 upon which he made a covenant with them, which on his part was to do wonders for them, and drive out the inhabitants of Canaan before them; and on their part, that they should have no confederacy and communion with these nations, and shun their idolatry, and everything that might lead unto it, Ex 34:10-17 and he repeated several laws before given, and urged the observance of them, which Moses was to acquaint the people with, Ex 34:18-27 and after a stay of forty days and forty nights on the mount, he came down with the two tables of the law; and the skin of his face shone so bright, that the people of Israel were afraid to come nigh him, and therefore he put a vail over his face while he conversed with them, Ex 34:28-35.

Cross References

• 1. Deuteronomy 10:1
• 2. ver. 28; Deuteronomy 10:2, 4
• 3. Exodus 32:19
• 4. Exodus 19:20
• 5. Exodus 19:12, 13, 21
• 6. Numbers 11:25; [1 Kings 8:10, 11]
• 7. Exodus 33:19
• 8. Numbers 14:18; 2 Chronicles 30:9; Nehemiah 9:17; Psalms 86:15; Psalms 103:8; Psalms 111:4; Psalms 112:4; Psalms 116:5; Psalms 145:8; Joel 2:13
• 9. Exodus 22:27
• 10. Psalms 57:10; Psalms 108:4
• 11. Exodus 20:5, 6; Deuteronomy 5:10; Jeremiah 32:18; Daniel 9:4
• 12. Psalms 103:3; Psalms 130:4; Daniel 9:9; 1 John 1:9
• 13. Exodus 23:21; Joshua 24:19; Job 10:14; Nahum 1:3
• 14. Deuteronomy 5:9
• 15. Exodus 4:31; Exodus 12:27
• 16. Exodus 33:15, 16
• 17. See Exodus 32:9
• 18. Deuteronomy 32:9; Psalms 28:9; Psalms 33:12; Psalms 78:62; Psalms 94:14; Jeremiah 10:16; Zechariah 2:12
• 19. ver. 27; Deuteronomy 5:2; Deuteronomy 29:1
• 20. Deuteronomy 4:32-35; Joshua 6:20; Joshua 10:12, 13; 2 Samuel 7:23; Psalms 77:14; Psalms 78:12
• 21. Deuteronomy 10:21; Psalms 145:6; [Isaiah 64:3]
• 22. See Exodus 13:5
• 23. Exodus 23:32; Deuteronomy 7:2; Joshua 23:12, 13; Judges 2:2
• 24. See Exodus 23:33
• 25. Deuteronomy 7:5; Deuteronomy 12:3; Judges 2:2; Judges 6:25; 2 Chronicles 34:3, 4
• 26. Exodus 23:24; 2 Kings 18:4; 2 Kings 23:14; 2 Chronicles 31:1
• 27. See Deuteronomy 16:21
• 28. Exodus 20:3, 5

Footnotes

• [a]. Or to the thousandth generation