Chapter Text
The New Tablets of Stone
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.
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.
The Covenant Renewed
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 men children 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.
The Radiance of Moses' Face
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.
Summary
God responds to Moses' request by placing him in the cleft of a rock, covering him with His hand while His glory passes by, then allowing Moses to see His back but not His face. God commands Moses to cut two new stone tablets and ascend Sinai again. The LORD descends in a cloud and proclaims: 'The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth, keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty.' God renews the covenant, promising to drive out the nations. He restates laws regarding idolatry, feasts, firstborn, and the Sabbath. Moses fasts forty days. When he descends, his face shines so brightly the people are afraid, and he wears a veil.
Meaning
God's self-proclamation in verses 6-7 is the single most important theological statement in the Old Testament, cited or echoed more than any other passage. It reveals the perfect balance of mercy and justice in God's character — He forgives abundantly yet never excuses sin.
The shining of Moses' face reveals that extended communion with God transforms the one who draws near. Paul later contrasts this fading glory with the permanent, ever-increasing glory available to believers through Christ and the new covenant.
Background
The cleft of the rock protecting Moses has been understood both literally and typologically. Many interpreters see Christ as the Rock in whom believers are hidden from judgment while beholding God's goodness.
The renewal of the tablets symbolized covenant restoration after apostasy. God's willingness to rewrite the law demonstrates that His mercy triumphs over human failure, though not at the expense of justice.
Chapter Outline
- vv. 1-4New Tablets Prepared for the Renewed Covenant
- vv. 5-9God Proclaims His Name and Character
- vv. 10-17Covenant Terms: Separation from Pagan Nations
- vv. 18-26Laws of Worship, Feasts, and Firstfruits
- vv. 27-28Forty Days on the Mountain with God
- vv. 29-35Moses' Shining Face and the Veil
Key Verses
“And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD, The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,”— 34:6
This is God's self-revelation of His own character — the most quoted Old Testament passage within the Old Testament itself. It becomes the foundational creed of Israel's understanding of who God is.
“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.”— 34:7
This verse holds in tension God's mercy and His justice — mercy extends to thousands of generations while judgment reaches only to the third and fourth, revealing that grace vastly outweighs wrath.
“For thou shalt worship no other god: for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God:”— 34:14
One of Scripture's most striking divine self-descriptions. God's jealousy is not petty envy but the righteous insistence of a covenant Lord upon exclusive devotion from His people.
“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.”— 34:29
Moses' shining face becomes a major theological motif. Paul draws on this passage in 2 Corinthians 3 to contrast the fading glory of the old covenant with the surpassing glory of the new.
People & Places
People
- Moses — Mediator of the covenant who ascends Sinai alone, receives the renewed tablets, and returns with his face shining from God's presence.
- Aaron — Brother of Moses and priest who, along with the rulers, first notices Moses' radiant face and is afraid to approach him.
Places
- Mount Sinai — The mountain where God meets Moses privately to renew the covenant and rewrite the Ten Commandments on new stone tablets.
Prophecy & Fulfillment
Moses' shining face and the veil he wears foreshadow the contrast between old and new covenants developed by Paul in 2 Corinthians 3:7–18, where the fading glory on Moses' face typifies the temporary nature of the Law, while believers under the new covenant behold God's glory with unveiled faces. The covenant renewal itself after Israel's golden calf apostasy prefigures the pattern of divine restoration after human failure — a theme that culminates in the new covenant promised in Jeremiah 31:31–34.
Devotional
God did not abandon Israel after the golden calf. He renewed the covenant, re-carved the tablets, and proclaimed His own name — merciful, gracious, longsuffering. This is the pattern of Scripture: where sin abounds, grace abounds more.
Notice that Moses did not know his face was shining. Genuine encounters with God transform us in ways others see before we do. Time in God's presence leaves a mark — not for display, but as an overflow of communion.
The call to exclusive worship remains. Every age has its molten gods. The Lord whose name is Jealous asks not for part of our devotion, but all of it.
Literary Style
Narrative interwoven with divine speech and legal instruction. The chapter moves from theophany (vv. 5–7) through covenant stipulations (vv. 10–26) to a remarkable concluding scene (vv. 29–35). God's self-proclamation in verses 6–7 employs rhythmic, creedal language that became a liturgical formula repeated throughout the Hebrew Bible.