33.4 Harsh, or “disastrous” (see 32.12). Ornaments. Cf. Jdt 10.1–4. In contrast to vv. 5–6, here the people take the initiative.
33.5 For the LORD had said, lit. “The LORD said,” which would seem to precede v. 4. And I will decide, lit. “so that I will know,” in Hebrew a pun on ornaments.
33.6 Horeb. See note on 3.1.
33.7 Pitch it. The Hebrew adds “for himself.” Moses pitches the tent to administer the oracle (see v. 9; cf. note on 25.1–31.18). This tent of meeting is the precursor of the tabernacle, also called the tent of meeting (e.g., 27.21), which will be located at the center of the camp (Num 2.2). The tent cannot be situated in the camp until the camp can be cleansed of ritual pollution through appropriate cultic activity (cf. Num 5.1–4).
33.9 Cloud. See notes on 13.21; 24.15; cf. 40.34–38; Num 11.25; 12.5; Deut 31.15. Entrance. Cf. 25.22.
33.11 Face to face, figurative for immediate contact (see vv. 20–23); cf. Num 12.8 (lit. “mouth to mouth”); Deut 34.10. Joshua. See note on 17.9.
33.12–23 Note the key words see, face (cf. v. 11), and know.
33.12 See, responding to vv. 1–3. Whom. In light of v. 2, Moses would be asking for the angel’s name (see Gen 32.29; Judg 13.17–18; cf. 3.13). Know, lit. “have known,” an idiom for “to elect” (Jer 1.5; Hos 13.5). Moses anticipates the Lord (v. 17).
33.13 Show me, lit. “let me know.” Ways. See v. 19; 34.6–7; cf. Ps 103.7–18. Consider, rendered see in v. 12. Your, responding to v. 1; cf. 32.11.
33.14 Presence, lit. “face” (also v. 15), replying to vv. 2–3 and anticipating 34.9. Go. Cf. 32.1. Give you rest, a play in Hebrew on lead (32.34) and referring to the settlement of Israel in Canaan (see Deut 3.20; 12.10; Josh 22.4).
33.15 Carry…up, rendered bring up in v. 12.
33.16 Be distinct. See note on 11.7; cf. Deut 7.6.
33.17 Know. See note on 33.12.
33.18 Show me, lit. “let me see.” Glory. See note on 16.6–7.
33.19 Goodness, or “splendor” (“fair” in Hos 10.11). LORD. See note on 3.14. Gracious, in Hebrew cognate to favor (vv. 12, 13, 16, 17). Cf. 34.6.
33.20 See note on 3.6.
33.21 See, lit. “here.” Place. Cf. 3.5. Stand. See note on 2.4. The Hebrew term is rendered present yourself in 34.2. Rock. Cf. 17.6.
33.22 Passed. See 1 Kings 19.11–12.
33.23 For the effect, see 34.29.
EXODUS 34
Moses Makes New Tablets
1The LORD said to Moses, “Cut two tablets of stone like the former ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets, which you broke. 2Be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning to Mount Sinai and present yourself there to me, on the top of the mountain. 3No one shall come up with you, and do not let anyone be seen throughout all the mountain; and do not let flocks or herds graze in front of that mountain.” 4So Moses cut two tablets of stone like the former ones; and he rose early in the morning and went up on Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand the two tablets of stone. 5The LORD descended in the cloud and stood with him there, and proclaimed the name, “The LORD.”a 6The LORD passed before him, and proclaimed,
“The LORD, the LORD,
a God merciful and gracious,
slow to anger,
and abounding in steadfast love and faithfulness,
7keeping steadfast love for the thousandth generation,b
forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin,
yet by no means clearing the guilty,
but visiting the iniquity of the parents
upon the children
and the children’s children,
to the third and the fourth generation.”
8And Moses quickly bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped. 9He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, O Lord, I pray, let the Lord go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”
The Covenant Renewed
10He said: I hereby make a covenant. Before all your people I will perform marvels, such as have not been performed in all the earth or in any nation; and all the people among whom you live shall see the work of the LORD; for it is an awesome thing that I will do with you.
11Observe what I command you today. See, I will drive out before you the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 12Take care not to make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, or it will become a snare among you. 13You shall tear down their altars, break their pillars, and cut down their sacred polesc 14(for you shall worship no other god, because the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God). 15You shall not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, for when they prostitute themselves to their gods and sacrifice to their gods, someone among them will invite you, and you will eat of the sacrifice. 16And you will take wives from among their daughters for your sons, and their daughters who prostitute themselves to their gods will make your sons also prostitute themselves to their gods.
17You shall not make cast idols.
18You shall keep the festival of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out from Egypt.
19All that first opens the womb is mine, all your maled livestock, the firstborn of cow and sheep. 20The firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, or if you will not redeem it you shall break its neck. All the firstborn of your sons you shall redeem.
No one shall appear before me empty-handed.
21Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even in plowing time and in harvest time you shall rest. 22You shall observe the festival of weeks, the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the festival of ingathering at the turn of the year. 23Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the LORD God, the God of Israel. 24For I will cast out nations before you, and enlarge your borders; no one shall covet your land when you go up to appear before the LORD your God three times in the year.
25You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leaven, and the sacrifice of the festival of the passover shall not be left until the morning.
26The best of the first fruits of your ground you shall bring to the house of the LORD your God.
You shall not boil a kid in its mother’s milk.
27The LORD said to Moses: Write these words; in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel. 28He was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.e
The Shining Face of Moses
29Moses came down from Mount Sinai. As he came down from the mountain with the two tablets of the covenantf in his hand, Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because he had been talking with God. 30When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, the skin of his face was shining, and they were afraid to come near him. 31But Moses called to them; and Aaron and all the leaders of the congregation returned to him, and Moses spoke with them. 32Afterward all the Israelites came near, and he gave them in commandment all that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. 33When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face; 34but whenever Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he would take the veil off, until he came out; and when he came out, and told the Israelites what he had been commanded, 35the Israelites would see the face of Moses, that the skin of his face was shining; and Moses would put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
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a Heb YHWH; see note at 3.15
b Or for thousands
c Heb Asherim
d Gk Theodotion Vg Tg: Meaning of Heb uncertain
e Heb words
f Or treaty, or testimony; Heb eduth
34.1–8 Following the pardon o
f the people’s apostasy, the Lord dispenses another covenant-forging revelation.
34.1 Cut. Cf. v. 28. I will write. Cf. v. 28; see Deut 10.1–2, 4.
34.2 Be ready and morning evoke the Sinai revelation (see 19.11, 15, 16; the Hebrew term rendered prepare there is the same one rendered ready here). Top. Cf. 19.20.
34.3 No one. Cf. 24.2, 12; 19.24. Be seen. Cf. 19.12–13, 21–24.
34.5 The cloud, lit. “a cloud” cf. 19.9, 16; 24.15; see note on 13.21. Stood. See note on 33.21. Proclaimed, or “invoked” (e.g., Gen 12.8), the subject being Moses; cf. 33.19.
34.6–7 See notes on 20.5; 20.6; 20.7. Variants are quoted in Num 14.18; Neh 9.17; Pss 86.15; 103.8; 145.8; Jer 32.18; Joel 2.13; Jon 4.2; Nah 1.3, but these variants tend to focus on the divine compassion and omit the retribution.
34.8 Toward the earth. Bowing the head “to the ground” was a conventional gesture of homage and is depicted in ancient art.
34.9 See note on 33.14.
34.10–26 In view of Israel’s cultic deviance in the golden calf incident (ch. 32), a reiteration of some fundamental ritual laws.
34.10 Marvels, translated wonders in 3.20 and similar to the term rendered set apart in 8.22. Performed, rather “created” cf. Num 16.30; Deut 4.32–34.
34.11 Cf. 23.28; 33.2.
34.12 Cf. 23.32–33.
34.13 Pillars. Cf. 23.24. Sacred poles, stylized trees (Deut 16.21); the Hebrew term for them, asherim, is cognate to Asherah, the Canaanite mother goddess (cf. Judg 6.25); cf. Deut 7.5; 12.3.
34.14 Jealous, perhaps a play on the Lord’s name, Yahweh, whose root can mean “crave” (Prov 10.3). Cf. 20.3, 5.
34.15 Prostitute themselves. See Num 25.1–2; cf. Lev 17.7; 20.5–6; Deut 31.16; Judg 2.17; 8.33.
34.16 Cf. Judg 3.6.
34.17 Cf. 20.4, 23; Lev 19.4.
34.18 In contrast to 23.12–15, the festival of unleavened bread is mentioned here before the sabbath and is separated from the other two pilgrimages, perhaps by virtue of its immediate connection to the exodus.
34.19–20 Cf. 13.12–13. No one…empty-handed pertains to the preceding law (v. 18; see 23.15); in ch. 13 too the law about the firstborn is juxtaposed with the Festival of Unleavened Bread.
34.21 Cf. 23.12.
34.22–23 Cf. 23.16–17. For the name festival of weeks, see Deut 16.9–10.
34.22 Turn, lit. “(completed) circuit.”
34.24 Cast out, lit. “dispossess” (Deut 9.5); cf. 23.23, 27–31; Deut 4.38 (where “driving out” translates the same verb). Enlarge. Cf. Deut 12.20 (where “territory” translates the same word as borders here). Covet. See note on 20.17; cf. the allaying of fear in 23.29–30. Go up, an anticipation of the Jerusalem temple (e.g., 1 Kings 12.27).
34.25–26 Cf. 23.18–19.
34.27 These words, vv. 11–26.
34.28 Forty. Cf. 24.18. Here a second forty-day period is indicated; cf. Deut 10.10. Neither ate…water. Cf. Deut 9.9, 18; a semidivine state is suggested. Wrote. See note on 34.1. Commandments. See v. 1.
34.29 Moses came, rather, “As Moses came.” Shone, in Hebrew cognate to “rays” (Hab 3.4); see notes on 13.21; 14.24. God, lit. “him,” some of whose radiance was imparted to Moses (see 33.17–23).
34.30 They were afraid, because Moses looked like a god; see v. 20; cf. 14.24.
34.31 Returned, rather “turned.”
34.33 Veil. Cf. the cloud covering the deity’s glory (e.g., 24.16).
34.34 Before the LORD, into the tent of meeting; see 33.7; Num 7.89.
EXODUS 35
Sabbath Regulations
1Moses assembled all the congregation of the Israelites and said to them: These are the things that the LORD has commanded you to do:
2Six days shall work be done, but on the seventh day you shall have a holy sabbath of solemn rest to the LORD; whoever does any work on it shall be put to death. 3You shall kindle no fire in all your dwellings on the sabbath day.
Preparations for Making the Tabernacle
4Moses said to all the congregation of the Israelites: This is the thing that the LORD has commanded: 5Take from among you an offering to the LORD; let whoever is of a generous heart bring the LORD’s offering: gold, silver, and bronze; 6blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and fine linen; goats’ hair, 7tanned rams’ skins, and fine leather;a acacia wood, 8oil for the light, spices for the anointing oil and for the fragrant incense, 9and onyx stones and gems to be set in the ephod and the breastpiece.
10All who are skillful among you shall come and make all that the LORD has commanded: the tabernacle, 11its tent and its covering, its clasps and its frames, its bars, its pillars, and its bases; 12the ark with its poles, the mercy seat,b and the curtain for the screen; 13the table with its poles and all its utensils, and the bread of the Presence; 14the lampstand also for the light, with its utensils and its lamps, and the oil for the light; 15and the altar of incense, with its poles, and the anointing oil and the fragrant incense, and the screen for the entrance, the entrance of the tabernacle; 16the altar of burnt offering, with its grating of bronze, its poles, and all its utensils, the basin with its stand; 17the hangings of the court, its pillars and its bases, and the screen for the gate of the court; 18the pegs of the tabernacle and the pegs of the court, and their cords; 19the finely worked vestments for ministering in the holy place, the holy vestments for the priest Aaron, and the vestments of his sons, for their service as priests.
Offerings for the Tabernacle
20Then all the congregation of the Israelites withdrew from the presence of Moses. 21And they came, everyone whose heart was stirred, and everyone whose spirit was willing, and brought the LORD’s offering to be used for the tent of meeting, and for all its service, and for the sacred vestments. 22So they came, both men and women; all who were of a willing heart brought brooches and earrings and signet rings and pendants, all sorts of gold objects, everyone bringing an offering of gold to the LORD. 23And everyone who possessed blue or purple or crimson yarn or fine linen or goats’ hair or tanned rams’ skins or fine leather,c brought them. 24Everyone who could make an offering of silver or bronze brought it as the LORD’s offering; and everyone who possessed acacia wood of any use in the work, brought it. 25All the skillful women spun with their hands, and brought what they had spun in blue and purple and crimson yarns and fine linen; 26all the women whose hearts moved them to use their skill spun the goats’ hair. 27And the leaders brought onyx stones and gems to be set in the ephod and the breast-piece, 28and spices and oil for the light, and for the anointing oil, and for the fragrant incense. 29All the Israelite men and women whose hearts made them willing to bring anything for the work that the LORD had commanded by Moses to be done, brought it as a freewill offering to the LORD.
Bezalel and Oholiab
30Then Moses said to the Israelites: See, the LORD has called by name Bezalel son of Uri son of Hur, of the tribe of Judah; 31he has filled him with divine spirit,d with skill, intelligence, and knowledge in every kind of craft, 32to devise artistic designs, to work in gold, silver, and bronze, 33in cutting stones for setting, and in carving wood, in every kind of craft. 34And he has inspired him to teach, both him and Oholiab son of Ahisamach, of the tribe of Dan. 35He has filled them with skill to do every kind of work done by an artisan or by a designer or by an embroiderer in blue, purple, and crimson yarns, and in fine linen, or by a weaver—by any sort of artisan or skilled designer.
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a Meaning of Heb uncertain
b Or the cover
c Meaning of Heb uncertain
d Or the spirit of God
35.1–3 Moses begins his instructions to the Israelites with the last matter in which he was instructed before descending the mountain (31.12–17); in this way the preceding topic of building the tabernacle (chs. 25–31) is resumed in what follows (chs. 35–40). The preparations for and construction of the tabernacle repeat the language of the instructions nearly verbatim, though with several ellipses.
3
5.2 Cf. 31.15.
35.3 Cf. 16.23; see note on 20.8.
35.4–9 Cf. 25.2–7. The tabernacle’s purpose (see 25.8; 29.45–46) is omitted.
35.10–19 An expansive parallel to 31.6–11; the list is pervaded by rhythmic repetition, assonance, and rhyme (cf. note on 28.34). The description moves from the holy of holies to the tabernacle proper to the court, each closed on the east by a screen (vv. 12, 10, 17).
35.10 Skillful. See note on 28.3.
35.12 Curtain for the screen, called a screen only here; cf. 26.31–33, where no screen is mentioned, but see 40.3 for an association between the terms screen and curtain.
35.14 Also, not in the Hebrew.
35.20–29 The overwhelming response (see also 36.3–7) redeems the people’s contributions to the illicit cult (32.2–3). Cf. 2 Chr 24.4–14.
35.20 The presence of, or “attendance upon.”
35.22 Earrings. Cf. 32.2–3. Offering, rendered elevation offering in 29.27, here in a general sense (as in 38.24).
35.23 Fine leather. See note on 25.5.
35.30–33 Cf. 31.1–5.
35.34–35 A more elaborate version of 31.6, adding notably to teach the artisans.
EXODUS 36
1Bezalel and Oholiab and every skillful one to whom the LORD has given skill and understanding to know how to do any work in the construction of the sanctuary shall work in accordance with all that the LORD has commanded.
2Moses then called Bezalel and Oholiab and every skillful one to whom the LORD had given skill, everyone whose heart was stirred to come to do the work; 3and they received from Moses all the freewill offerings that the Israelites had brought for doing the work on the sanctuary. They still kept bringing him freewill offerings every morning, 4so that all the artisans who were doing every sort of task on the sanctuary came, each from the task being performed, 5and said to Moses, “The people are bringing much more than enough for doing the work that the LORD has commanded us to do.” 6So Moses gave command, and word was proclaimed throughout the camp: “No man or woman is to make anything else as an offering for the sanctuary.” So the people were restrained from bringing; 7for what they had already brought was more than enough to do all the work.
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