The Lord Assures Moses That He Will Have Mercy on Israel

33 Then the Lord said to Moses, “You and the people you brought out of Egypt must leave this place. Go to the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with an oath, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ ² I will send a Messenger ahead of you, and I will force out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. ³ Go to that land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not be with you, because you are impossible to deal with, and I would destroy you on the way.”

⁴ When the people heard this bad news, they acted as if someone had died. No one wore any jewelry. ⁵ The Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are impossible to deal with. If I were with you, I might destroy you at any time. Now take off your jewelry, and I’ll decide what to do with you.’ ” ⁶ After they left Mount Horeb, the Israelites no longer wore their jewelry.

⁷ Now, Moses used to take a tent and set it up far outside the camp. He called it the tent of meeting. Anyone who was seeking the Lord’s will used to go outside the camp to the tent of meeting. ⁸ Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand at the entrances to their tents and watch Moses until he went in. ⁹ As soon as Moses went into the tent, the column of smoke would come down and stay at the entrance to the tent while the Lord spoke with Moses. ¹⁰ When all the people saw the column of smoke standing at the entrance to the tent, they would all bow with their faces touching the ground at the entrance to their own tents. ¹¹ The Lord would speak to Moses personally, as a man speaks to his friend. Then Moses would come back to the camp, but his assistant, Joshua, son of Nun, stayed inside the tent.

¹² Moses said to the Lord, “You’ve been telling me to lead these people, but you haven’t let me know whom you’re sending with me. You’ve also said, ‘I know you by name, and I’m pleased with you.’ ¹³ If you really are pleased with me, show me your ways so that I can know you and so that you will continue to be pleased with me. Remember: This nation is your people.”

¹⁴ The Lord answered, “My presence will go ⌞with you,⌟ and I will give you peace.”

¹⁵ Then Moses said to him, “If your presence is not going ⌞with us⌟, don’t make us leave this place. ¹⁶ How will anyone ever know you’re pleased with your people and me unless you go with us? Then we will be different from all other people on the face of the earth.”

¹⁷ The Lord answered Moses, “I will do what you have asked, because I am pleased with you, and I know you by name.”

¹⁸ Then Moses said, “Please let me see your glory.”

¹⁹ The Lord said, “I will let all my goodness pass in front of you, and there I will call out my name ‘the Lord.’ I will be kind to anyone I want to. I will be merciful to anyone I want to. ²⁰ But you can’t see my face, because no one may see me and live.”

²¹ Then the Lord said, “Look, there’s a place near me. Stand by this rocky cliff. ²² When my glory passes by, I will put you in a crevice in the cliff and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take my hand away, and you’ll see my back, but my face must not be seen.”

The Lord Meets with Moses on the Mountain

34 The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two ⌞more⌟ stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets which you smashed. ² Be ready in the morning. Then come up on Mount Sinai, and stand in my presence on the top of the mountain. ³ No one may come with you or even be seen anywhere on the mountain. Even the flocks and herds may not graze in front of this mountain.”

⁴ So Moses cut two ⌞more⌟ stone tablets like the first ones. Early the next morning he went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, carrying the two stone tablets.

⁵ The Lord came down in a cloud and stood there with him and called out his name “the Lord.”

⁶ Then he passed in front of Moses, calling out, “The Lord, the Lord, a compassionate and merciful God, patient, always faithful and ready to forgive. ⁷ He continues to show his love to thousands of generations, forgiving wrongdoing, disobedience, and sin. He never lets the guilty go unpunished, punishing children and grandchildren for their parents’ sins to the third and fourth generation.”

⁸ Immediately, Moses knelt, bowing with his face touching the ground. ⁹ Then he said, “Lord, please go with us! Even though we are impossible to deal with, forgive our sin and the wrong we have done, and accept us as your own people.”

The Lord Makes His Promise with Israel Again

¹⁰ The Lord said, “I’m making my promise ^[a] again. In front of all your people I will perform miracles that have never been done in any other nation in all the world. All the people around you will see how awesome these miracles are that I will perform for you. ¹¹ Do everything that I command today. Then I will force the Amorites, Canaanites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites out of your way. ¹² Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in the land where you’re going. This will prove to be a trap to you. ¹³ But tear down their altars, crush their sacred stones, and cut down their poles dedicated to the goddess Asherah. ¹⁴ (Never worship any other god, because the Lord is a God who does not tolerate rivals. In fact, he is known for not tolerating rivals.) ¹⁵ Be careful not to make a treaty with those who live in that land. When they chase after their gods as though they were prostitutes and sacrifice to them, they may invite you to eat the meat from their sacrifices with them. ¹⁶ Then your sons will end up marrying their daughters. When their daughters chase after their gods as though they were prostitutes, they’ll lead your sons to do the same thing.

¹⁷ “Never make an idol.

¹⁸ “You must celebrate the Festival of Unleavened Bread. As I commanded you, you must eat unleavened bread for seven days at the appointed time in the month of Abib, because in that month you came out of Egypt.

¹⁹ “Every first male offspring is mine, even the firstborn males of all your livestock, whether cattle, sheep, or goats. ²⁰ It will cost you a sheep or a goat to buy back the firstborn donkey. If you don’t buy it back, then you must break the donkey’s neck. You must buy back every firstborn of your sons.

“No one may come into my presence without an offering.

²¹ “You may work six days, but on the seventh day you must not work. Even during the time of plowing or harvesting you must not work ⌞on this day⌟.

²² “You must celebrate the Festival of Weeks with the first grain from your wheat harvest, and the Festival of the Final Harvest at the end of the season.

²³ “Three times a year all your men must come into the presence of the Master, the Lord God of Israel. ²⁴ I will force nations out of your way and will expand ⌞your country’s⌟ borders. No one will want to take away your land while you’re gone three times a year to the Lord’s festivals.

²⁵ “Never offer the blood of a sacrifice to me at the same time you offer anything containing yeast. No part of the sacrifice at the Passover Festival should be left over in the morning.

²⁶ “You must bring the first and best of the produce harvested from your soil to the house of the Lord your God.

“Never cook a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

²⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write down these words, because on the basis of these words I’m making a promise to Israel and to you.”

²⁸ Moses was there with the Lord 40 days and 40 nights without food or water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the promise, the ten commandments.

Moses Returns to the People

²⁹ Moses came down from Mount Sinai, carrying the two tablets with God’s words on them. His face was shining from speaking with the Lord, but he didn’t know it.

³⁰ When Aaron and all the Israelites looked at Moses and saw his face shining, they were afraid to come near him. ³¹ Moses called to them, so Aaron and all the leaders of the community came back to him. Then Moses spoke to them. ³² After that, all the other Israelites came near him, and he commanded them to do everything the Lord told him on Mount Sinai. ³³ When Moses finished speaking to them, he put a veil over his face. ³⁴ But whenever Moses went into the Lord’s presence to speak with him, he took off the veil until he came out. Whenever he came out and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, ³⁵ they would see that Moses’ face was shining. Then Moses would put the veil back on until he went in again to speak with the Lord.