Exodus 34

₁The Lord said to Moses: ‘Cut out 2 flat stones like the 2 stones that I gave you. I will write the same words on the stones that I wrote on the first 2 stones that you broke. ₂You must be ready to go tomorrow morning. Go to the top of Mount Sinai and wait for Me there. ₃No one may come with you. There may be no one on the mountain. The goats and sheep and cattle may not come or eat near the mountain.’

₄Then Moses cut out 2 flat stones that looked like the first 2 stones. He got up early the next morning and he went up Mount Sinai as the Lord had told him. He took the 2 flat stones with him. ₅Then the Lord came down in a cloud to the mountain and He stood near Moses and He said his name, Yahweh, loudly. ₆The Lord went past Moses and He said loudly: ‘I am the Lord. I am the Lord who is good to people who suffer and I am full of mercy and grace. I am very patient and loving and I do what I have promised. ₇I will always love my people, even after 1 000 generations. I forgive my people when they do wrong and rebel and sin. I do not forget the sins of anyone who is guilty, and I will punish them for what they have done. If a father has done wrong, I will also punish his children, grandchildren and their children.’

₈Moses knelt quickly on the ground and he bowed before the Lord. ₉He said: ‘Lord, if You are pleased with me, please go with us. These people are stubborn. We have done wrong, and we have sinned. Please forgive us and let us be your own people again.’

₁₀The Lord said: ‘I will now make a covenant with you. All the Israelites will see the miracles that I do. No one has ever done these miracles on earth, not where any of the nations could see them. All the nations around you will see what I do. They will become afraid of Me and they will respect Me when they see what I do for you. ₁₁You must do what I am telling you today. I am now going to chase away the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites before you. ₁₂You must not make an agreement with the people from the land where I am going to take you. If you do, you will have lots of problems. ₁₃No, you must destroy their altars, and you must break down their sacred_pillars and sacred poles for their god, Asherah. ₁₄You may never bow down before any other god. You may serve only Me. That is why people have named Me “The God who wants people to serve only Him”.

₁₅You may not make an agreement with the people who live in this land, because when they serve other gods and sacrifice to them, they will also invite you and you will go with them and eat their offerings and worship their gods. ₁₆You will take some of their daughters to marry your sons, but their daughters serve other gods and they will seduce your sons and they will also start serving those other gods. ₁₇You may not make statues of their gods.’

₁₈The Lord said: ‘You must celebrate the Feast of the flat bread. For 7 days you must eat flat bread as I have told you. You must always celebrate this feast on the same day of the month of Abib, because it was in the month of Abib that you went out of Egypt.’

₁₉‘Every firstborn son belongs to Me, and also the oldest bull-calves and ram-lambs. ₂₀But if you want to keep a donkey that is the firstborn, you can buy it and pay for it with a lamb. But if you don't buy that donkey with a lamb, you must break the neck of the donkey. You must pay for every firstborn son.’

₂₁‘For 6 days you must work, but on the 7th day you must rest. You must rest on this day, even when it is time to plough or harvest wheat.

₂₂You must celebrate the Feast of weeks when you start cutting the ripe wheat and you must celebrate the Harvest-feast at the end of the year, when you have finished cutting the wheat and grapes.

₂₃All the men must come to Me 3 times each year to worship Me. I am the Lord God of Israel.

₂₄I will chase away all the other people who have lived here before you and I will give you lots of land where you can live. If you come to the temple 3 times each year to worship the Lord your God, no one will try to take your land.

₂₅When you kill an animal to sacrifice it to Me, you must not put the blood near anything that has yeast in it.

You must eat all the food from the Passover sacrifice. Do not leave any food over until the next morning.

₂₆You must bring the best of the first fruit that you pick to the house of the Lord your God.

Do not cook a goat lamb in its mother's milk.’

₂₇The Lord said to Moses: ‘You must write down these words because this is part of the covenant that I have made with you and the Israelites.’

₂₈Moses was on the mountain with the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights. He did not eat or drink anything. The Lord wrote the words of the covenant on the flat stones. They were the 10 commandments. ₂₉When Moses came down from Mount Sinai, he had the 2 flat stones in his hands. The 10 commandments were written on the stones. Moses' face was shining because God had talked to him, but Moses did not know that his face was shining. ₃₀Aaron and all the Israelites saw that Moses' face was shining and they were afraid to come near him. ₃₁But Moses called them and then Aaron and all the leaders of the people came to him and Moses talked to them. ₃₂Then all the Israelites also came to Moses and he told them everything that God had said to him on Mount Sinai.

₃₃When Moses had finished talking to them, he covered his face with a veil. ₃₄But every time that Moses went to the tent to talk to the Lord, he took off the veil, and when he came out of the tent, he put it over his face again. Then he told the Israelites what the Lord said to him. ₃₅When the Israelites saw that Moses' face was shining, he covered his face with the veil, until he went back into the tent to talk to the Lord.