X-Dreamers
Bible chapter guide
Exodus 34
Moses cuts two new tablets and the LORD passes before him proclaiming his name: 'merciful and gracious, slow to anger, abundant in loving kindness and truth.' The covenant is renewed, and Moses' face shines when he comes down from the mountain.
Summary written for the Labs; read the chapter itself for the full text.
What happens in this chapter
Moses cuts two new tablets and climbs Sinai alone early in the morning, with orders that no one else, not even the flocks, may come near the mountain. The LORD comes down in the cloud and passes in front of him, proclaiming his own name: merciful and gracious, slow to anger, keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving sin, yet by no means clearing the guilty. Moses asks once more for God to go with them, and God renews the covenant with a set of commands: no treaties with the peoples of the land, no cast idols, the three yearly feasts, the firstborn and the Sabbath. After another forty days Moses comes down with his face shining, and from then on he wears a veil over it except when he speaks with the LORD.
What the lab shows, and where to look
As in chapters 32 and 33, the labs show little of this chapter itself. The Exodus lab's Ten Commandments stop shows the tablets at Sinai; the second pair were cut like the first, so the same artistic model stands for both, and its card notes that the text calls them the 'ten words', a name that comes from verse 28. For the name God proclaims in verses 6–7, the Hebrew Word Explorer opens ḥesed, the 'mercy' kept for thousands. Verse 3 repeats the rule of chapter 19 that no one may come near the mountain; the boundary moment at the Sinai stop shows that, with artistic cairns. Nothing shows Moses' shining face.
- The Ten Commandments · The Exodus: through the Sea to Sinai
- ḥesed (mercy) · Hebrew Word Explorer
- Arrival at Sinai: The boundary · The Exodus: through the Sea to Sinai
Questions people ask
Who wrote on the second tablets, God or Moses?
God says in verse 1 that he will write the words himself, and Deuteronomy 10:4 says he did. Verse 28 only says "he wrote", and since verse 27 has just told Moses to write, some readers take Moses as the writer of the tablets too. The Chinese Union Version supplies the LORD as the subject of verse 28, and most readers take it in the light of verse 1.
Why is Moses sometimes shown with horns?
The Hebrew verb for his shining face, qāran, comes from the noun for 'horn', and here means that it sent out rays. Jerome's Latin Vulgate rendered it 'horned', and medieval art, including Michelangelo's Moses in Rome, followed that reading. KJV, the Chinese Union Version and modern translations read 'shone'.
Are there two different sets of Ten Commandments?
Verse 28 calls what was written 'the ten commandments', literally 'ten words', and verses 14–26 hold a list of commands about worship and the feasts that some scholars count as ten, calling it a 'ritual decalogue'. Others, following verse 1, hold that the new tablets carried the same words as the first, those of Exodus 20, and that verses 14–26 are a summary of covenant duties. The chapter can be read either way.
See it in the Labs
- The Exodus: through the Sea to SinaiThe Ten Commandments · The Exodus: through the Sea to SinaiOpen
- Hebrew Word Explorerḥesed (mercy) · Hebrew Word ExplorerOpen
Also in this chapter
How sure can we be?
- Textually stated
They are called the 'ten words'.
Exodus 34:28; Deuteronomy 4:13; 10:4.
- Strongly supported
Ḥesed is kindness shown out of loyalty and commitment, not passing sentiment.
It is paired with ʾĕmet ('faithfulness') in Exodus 34:6 and with covenant-keeping in Deuteronomy 7:9. No single English word covers it, so the KJV uses 'mercy', 'kindness' and 'lovingkindness'.