Passage

Exodus 34.1

Book: Exodus · NASB95

Immediate context (±2 verses)

ASV

1. And Jehovah said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon the tables the words that were on the first tables, which thou brakest.

And be ready by the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me on the top of the mount. 3. And no man shall come up with thee; neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. (Exodus 34:1-3, ASV)

WEB

1. Yahweh said to Moses, “Chisel two stone tablets like the first: and 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. 3. 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.” (Exodus 34:1-3, WEB)

KJV

1. And the LORD said unto Moses, Hew thee two tables of stone like unto the first: and I will write upon these tables the words that were in the first tables, which thou brakest.

And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount. 3. And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount. (Exodus 34:1-3, KJV)

YLT

1. And Jehovah saith unto Moses, 'Hew for thyself two tables of stone like the first, and I have written on the tables the words which were on the first tables which thou hast broken;

and be prepared at morning, and thou hast come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and hast stood before Me there, on the top of the mount, 3. and no man cometh up with thee, and also no man is seen in all the mount, also the flock and the herd do not feed over-against that mount.' (Exodus 34:1-3, YLT)

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Setting

Speaker: the LORD, speaking to Moses
Audience: Moses
Location: Mount Sinai
Time period: the exodus generation; the date is disputed between a fifteenth- and a thirteenth-century BC exodus

Theological reading

Cut for yourself two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.

The verse that opens the covenant renewal, and it fixes the content of the second tablets by reference to the first before any of the chapter's laws are spoken.

That ordering is the load-bearing argument against the two-Decalogues reading, which takes the festal and cultic material of 34:10-26 to be the "ten words" of Exodus 34.28. Whatever is made of that verse, the chapter opens by saying the tablets carry the former words. Deuteronomy 10:2 and 10:4 say the same and identify them with the Sinai proclamation. See Cultic Decalogue Objection Defeater.

Note also who writes. Here God says he will write; at 34:27 Moses is told to write these words. The chapter has two writings in view, which the two-Decalogue reading has to collapse into one.

Key words

Theologically-loaded Greek or Hebrew words in this verse may have entries in the lexicon. Curated to roughly 100 contested terms across the corpus, not every word.

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Quoted in

Arguments and defeaters:

Cultic Decalogue Objection Defeater

Concepts:

Documentary Hypothesis

Passages:

Notes

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Why these four translations

ris3n chose ASV, WEB, KJV, and YLT for two reasons together. They are the most literal English translations available (formal-equivalence: word-for-word renderings that preserve the Hebrew and Greek grammar rather than smoothing it into modern dynamic-equivalence idiom). And they are in the public domain in the United States, which means fair-use quotation at any length requires no publisher license. Modern licensed translations (NASB95, ESV, NIV) restrict volume of quotation under their copyright terms, so they are not used at stub-level coverage here. NASB95 appears only on hand-curated rich passage hubs under Lockman Foundation's fair-use allowance.

The four:

ASV (American Standard Version, 1901). The basis of the modern critical-text English tradition.
WEB (World English Bible, contemporary). Public-domain revision in the ASV line, in current English.
KJV (King James Version, 1611). Reformation-era, Textus Receptus base.
YLT (Young's Literal Translation, Robert Young, 1862). Hyper-literal preservation of Hebrew and Greek grammar; useful for word-study work even where English reads stiff.

See Bibles for the full per-translation history, translators, textual basis, strengths, and weaknesses.