Israel Leaves Mount Sinai

33 The Lord said to Moses, “Go away from this place, you and the people you have brought out of the land of Egypt. Go to the land that I promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your children.’ ² I will send an angel before you. And I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ³ Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a strong-willed people and I might destroy you on the way.” ⁴ When the people heard this bad news, they were filled with sorrow. None of them wore his objects of gold or silver. ⁵ For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a strong-willed people. If I go with you even for just a little time, I would destroy you. So take off your objects of gold and silver that I may know what to do with you.’” ⁶ So the people of Israel took off all their objects of gold and silver at Mount Horeb.

Moses Meets with the Lord

⁷ Now Moses used to take the tent and set it up far away from the other tents. He called it the meeting tent. Anyone who wanted to meet with the Lord would go away from the other tents to the meeting tent. ⁸ When Moses went out to the tent, all the people would get up and stand at the doors of their tents. And they would watch Moses until he went into the meeting tent. ⁹ Whenever Moses went into the meeting tent, the cloud would come down and stand at the door of the tent. And the Lord would speak with Moses. ¹⁰ When all the people saw the cloud standing at the door of the meeting tent, they would stand up and worship, each at his tent door. ¹¹ The Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses returned to the other tents, his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not leave the meeting tent.

God’s Promise to Be with His People

¹² Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘Lead this people!’ But You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You said, ‘I have known you by name. You have found favor in My eyes.’ ¹³ So I pray to You, if I have found favor in Your eyes, let me know Your ways. Then I may know You and find favor in Your eyes. And keep in mind that this nation is Your people.” ¹⁴ The Lord said, “I Myself will go with you. I will give you rest.” ¹⁵ Then Moses said to Him, “If You Yourself do not go with us, do not have us leave this place. ¹⁶ For how will it be known that I and Your people have found favor in Your eyes, unless You go with us? Then I and Your people will be different from all the other people on the earth.”

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, “I will do what you have said. For you have found favor in My eyes, and I have known you by name.” ¹⁸ Moses said, “I pray to You, show me Your shining-greatness!” ¹⁹ And God said, “I will have My goodness pass in front of you. I will make the name of the Lord known in front of you. I will have loving-kindness and loving-pity for anyone I want to.” ²⁰ But He said, “You cannot see My face. For no man can see Me and live!” ²¹ Then the Lord said, “See, there is a place beside Me. You stand there on the rock. ²² While My shining-greatness is passing by, I will put you in the large crack of the rock. And I will cover you with My hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take My hand away and you will see My back. But My face will not be seen.”

Moses Makes New Pieces of Stone

34 The Lord said to Moses, “Cut two pieces of stone like the first ones. And I will write on the stones the words that were on the first stones which you broke. ² So be ready in the morning. Come up in the morning to Mount Sinai. And stand before Me on the top of the mountain. ³ No one is to come up with you. Do not let anyone be seen on the whole mountain. Even the sheep and the cattle may not eat in front of the mountain.” ⁴ So Moses cut two pieces of stone like the first ones. Then he got up early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the Lord told him. And he took the two pieces of stone in his hand. ⁵ The Lord came down in the cloud and stood there with Moses as he called upon the name of the Lord. ⁶ Then the Lord passed by in front of him, saying, “The Lord, the Lord God, with loving-pity and loving-favor, slow to anger, filled with loving-kindness and truth, ⁷ keeping loving-kindness for thousands, forgiving wrong-doing and sin. But He will not let the guilty go without being punished. He brings the sin of fathers down upon the children, even the great-grandchildren.” ⁸ Moses was quick to put his face to the ground and worship. ⁹ And Moses said, “O Lord, if I have found favor in Your eyes, I pray, let the Lord go with us, even if the people are strong-willed. Forgive our wrong-doing and our sin. And take us for Your own.”

The Agreement Made Alive Again

¹⁰ Then God said, “See, I am going to make an agreement. I will do powerful works in front of all your people which have never been done on earth among any nation. All the people with whom you live will see the work of the Lord. For what I am going to do with you will fill people with fear. ¹¹ Be sure to do what I am telling you this day. See, I am going to drive out of your way the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ¹² Take care to make no agreement with the people of the land where you are going. It would be a trap to you. ¹³ Instead you are to tear down their altars, break their objects of worship, and cut down their false gods. ¹⁴ For you must not worship any other god. For the Lord, Whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God. ¹⁵ So do not make an agreement with the people of the land. Or when they follow their desire with their gods and give gifts to their gods, they would ask you to eat of their gift used in worship. ¹⁶ And you would marry your sons to their daughters who follow their gods. And they would lead your sons to follow their gods also. ¹⁷ Do not make any gods for yourself.

¹⁸ “Keep the special supper of bread without yeast. Eat bread without yeast for seven days as I told you, at the time set aside for it in the month of Abib. For you came out of Egypt in the month of Abib. ¹⁹ Every first-born belongs to Me, and all your male animals, the first-born from cattle and sheep. ²⁰ But the life of a first-born donkey should be paid for with the blood of a lamb. If you do not pay for its life, you should break its neck. Pay for the life of all your first-born sons with the blood of a lamb. No one is to come before Me without a gift.

²¹ “Work six days, but rest on the seventh day. Rest even during plowing time and gathering time. ²² Have the special supper of weeks at the first gathering of grain. Have the special supper of gathering time at the end of the year. ²³ Three times a year all your males are to come before the Lord God, the God of Israel. ²⁴ For I will drive nations out of your way and give you more land. No man will desire to have your land when you go to show yourselves before the Lord your God.

²⁵ “Do not give the blood of My gift together with bread made with yeast. Do not leave any of the gift of the special supper of the Passover until morning. ²⁶ Bring the first of the first-fruits of your ground into the house of the Lord your God. Do not boil the meat of a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

²⁷ The Lord said to Moses, “Write these words. For by these words I have made an agreement with you and with Israel.” ²⁸ Moses was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights. He did not eat bread or drink water. And he wrote on the stones the words of the agreement, the Ten Great Laws.

Moses Goes Down from Mount Sinai

²⁹ Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two stone writings in his hand. He did not know that the skin of his face was shining because of his speaking with the Lord. ³⁰ When Aaron and all the people of Israel saw Moses, they saw that the skin of his face was shining. They were afraid to come near him. ³¹ But Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the people returned to him. And Moses spoke to them. ³² After this all the people of Israel came near. Moses told them to do all the Lord had said to him on Mount Sinai. ³³ When Moses had finished speaking with them, he covered his face with a piece of cloth. ³⁴ But whenever Moses went before the Lord to speak with Him, he would take off the face covering until he came out. Then he would tell the people of Israel what the Lord had said for them to do. ³⁵ The people of Israel saw that the skin of Moses’ face shone. So Moses would put the covering over his face again until he went in to speak with the Lord.