The Second Book of Moses: Exodus

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- Chapter 34 -

(Deuteronomy 10:1–11)

And after this he said: “Cut out for yourself two tablets of stone similar to the first ones, and I will write upon them the words which were held on the tablets that you broke.

Be prepared in the morning, so that you may immediately ascend onto Mount Sinai, and you shall stand with me on the summit of the mountain.

Let no one ascend with you, and do not let anyone be seen throughout the entire mountain. Likewise, do not let the oxen or the sheep pasture up against it.”

And so he cut out two tablets of stone, like those that were before. And rising up in the night, he ascended onto Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had instructed him, carrying with him the tablets.

And when the Lord had descended in a cloud, Moses stood with him, calling upon the name of the Lord.

And as he was crossing before him, he said: “The Ruler, the Lord God, merciful and lenient, patient and full of compassion and also truthful,

who preserves mercy a thousand fold, who takes away iniquity, and wickedness, and also sin; and with you no one, in and of himself, is innocent. You render the iniquity of the fathers to the sons, and also to their descendants to the third and fourth generation.”

And hurrying, Moses bowed down prostrate to the ground; and worshiping,

he said: “If I have found grace in your sight, O Lord, I beg you to walk with us, (for the people are stiff-necked) and take away our iniquities and our sin, and so possess us.”

The LORD Renews the Covenant

(2 Corinthians 3:7–18)

The Lord responded: “I will enter into a pact in the sight of all. I will perform signs which have never been seen on earth, nor among any nation, so that this people, in whose midst you are, may discern the terrible work of the Lord that I will do.

Observe everything that I command you this day. I myself will drive out before your face the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

Beware that you do not ever join in friendship with the inhabitants of that land, which may be your ruin.

But destroy their altars, break their statues, and cut down their sacred groves.

Do not be willing to worship any strange god. The jealous Lord is his name. God is a rival.

Do not enter into a pact with the men of those regions, lest, when they will have fornicated with their gods and worshiped their idols, someone might call upon you to eat from what was immolated.

Neither shall you take a wife for your son from their daughters, lest, after they themselves have fornicated, they may cause your sons also to fornicate with their gods.

You shall not make for yourselves any molten gods.

You shall keep the solemnity of unleavened bread. For seven days, you shall eat unleavened bread, just as I instructed you, in the time of the month of what is new. For in the month of springtime you departed from Egypt.(a)

All of the male kind, which open the womb, shall be mine: from all the animals, as much of oxen as of sheep, it shall be mine.

The firstborn of a donkey, you shall redeem with a sheep. But if you will not give a price for it, it shall be slain. The firstborn of your sons you shall redeem. You shall not appear empty in my sight.

For six days you shall work. On the seventh day you shall cease to cultivate and to harvest.

You shall observe the Solemnity of Weeks with the first-fruits of the grain from the harvest of your wheat, and a Solemnity when the time of the year returns and everything is stored away.(b)

Three times a year, all your males shall appear in the sight of the Almighty, the Lord God of Israel.(c)

For when I will have taken away the nations before your face, and enlarged your borders, no one shall lie in wait against your land when you will go up to appear in the sight of the Lord your God, three times a year.

You shall not immolate the blood of my victim over leaven; and there shall not remain, in the morning, any of the victim of the Solemnity of the Passover.

The first of the fruits of your land you shall offer in the house of the Lord your God. You shall not boil a young goat in the milk of its mother.”

And the Lord said to Moses, “Write these words to you, through which I have formed a covenant, both with you and with Israel.”

Therefore, he was in that place with the Lord for forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread and he did not drink water, and he wrote on the tablets the ten words of the covenant.

And when Moses descended from Mount Sinai, he held the two tablets of the testimony, and he did not know that his face was radiant from the sharing of words with the Lord.(d)

(e)

Then Aaron and the sons of Israel, seeing that the face of Moses was radiant, were afraid to approach close by.

And being called by him, they turned back, both Aaron and the leaders of the assembly. And after he had spoken to them,

all the sons of Israel also now came to him. And he instructed them in all the things that he had heard from the Lord on Mount Sinai.

And having completed these words, he placed a veil over his face.

But when he entered to the Lord and was speaking with him, he took it off, until he exited. And then he spoke to the sons of Israel all that had been commanded to him.

And they saw that the face of Moses, when he came out, was radiant, but he covered his face again, whenever he spoke to them.

Footnotes

(a)34:18 The phrase ‘mensis novorum’ uses the adjective ‘novorum’ as a noun: ‘the month of newness,’ or ‘the month of what is new,’ which indicates the springtime, i.e. the time of the grain harvest.(Conte)

(b)34:22 More literally, this is the solemnity of sevens (or of groups of sevens). It is a count of seven sets of seven days, from Passover to Pentecost (the Jewish Pentecost or Feast of Weeks).(Conte)

(c)34:23 The three feasts are Passover, Pentecost, and the Feast of Tabernacles, so the feast or solemnity at the end of the year would be the Feast of Tabernacles, which occurs at the end of the civil calendar year and at the end of the year counted from the start of planting grain in the fall.(Conte)

(d)34:29 The Latin text clearly refers to horns on Moses. Some say that this is an ancient misunderstanding (which they attribute to Saint Jerome) of the Hebrew word ‘qaran’ which can refer to horns or to rays of light. In any case, Moses was a figure and a foreshadowing of Christ, the Lamb of God, so it is fitting that Moses be depicted with horns. In this translation, however, the Hebrew text will be used to correct the Latin. The Neo-Vulgate and the Jerusalem Bible Readers Edition and online sources were consulted on this point.(Conte)

(e)34:29 Horned:That is, shining, and sending forth rays of light like horns.(Challoner)

(Deuteronomy 10:1–11)

The LORD said to Moses, “Chisel two stone tablets like the first. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

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

No one shall come up with you or be seen anywhere on the mountain. Do not let the flocks or herds graze in front of that mountain.”

He chiseled two tablets of stone like the first; then Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up to Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand two stone tablets.

The LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the LORD’s name.

The LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, “The LORD! The LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,

keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children, on the third and on the fourth generation.”

Moses hurried and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.

He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go among us, even though this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”

The LORD Renews the Covenant

(2 Corinthians 3:7–18)

He said, “Behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been worked in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD; for it is an awesome thing that I do with you.

Observe that which I command you today. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare among you;

but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherah poles;

for you shall worship no other god; for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.

“Don’t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice;

and you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters play the prostitute after their gods, and make your sons play the prostitute after their gods.

“You shall make no cast idols for yourselves.

“You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out of Egypt.

“All that opens the womb is mine; and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep.

You shall redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb. If you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one shall appear before me empty.

“Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.

“You shall observe the feast of weeks with the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of harvest at the year’s end.

Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.

For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man desire your land when you go up to appear before the LORD, your God, three times in the year.

“You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. The sacrifice of the feast of the Passover shall not be left to the morning.

“You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground to the house of the LORD your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

The LORD said to Moses, “Write these words; for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

He was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.

When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mountain, Moses didn’t know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him.

When Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him.

Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them.

Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them all the commandments that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.

When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.

But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the children of Israel that which he was commanded.

The children of Israel saw Moses’ face, that the skin of Moses’ face shone; so Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.