Knox Bible

1

After this the Lord said to him, Carve two tablets of stone, like those others, and I will write on them the same words as I wrote on the tablets thou didst break.

2

Be ready to come up on to mount Sinai in the morning, and there thou shalt stand before me on the mountain top.

3

No one else is to climb up with thee, no one else is to be in sight on any part of the mountain; even the cattle and the sheep must not be allowed to graze within view.

4

So Moses carved two tablets of stone, like the others; and he rose at dawn and went up mount Sinai at the Lord’s bidding, with the tablets in his hand.

5

The Lord came down to meet him, hidden in cloud, and Moses stood with him there, calling on the Lord’s name.

6

Thus the Lord passed by, and he cried out, It is the Lord God, the ruler of all things, the merciful, the gracious; slow to take vengeance, rich in kindness, faithful to his promises.

7

He is true to his promise of mercy a thousand times over; shame or sin or guilt is none but he forgives it; yet, before him, none can claim innocence in his own right, and when he punishes, the son must make amends for the father’s guilt, to the third and the fourth generation.✻

8

Then, without more ado, Moses fell prostrate with his face to the ground in worship.

9

Lord, he said, if thou dost look on me with favour, I entreat thee to go with us on our journey, stiff-necked as this people is; guilt of our sins do thou pardon, and keep us for thy own.

10

And the Lord answered, Here is my covenant, to which I am pledged. In the presence of you all I will do such marvels as were never yet seen on earth by any nation; the people among whom thou dwellest shall see for themselves what the Lord can do, and be terrified at the sight.

11

Thy part is to keep all the commandments I am now giving thee.

When I dispossess Amorrhite, Chanaanite, Hethite, Pherezite, Hevite and Jebusite at thy coming,

12

make no treaty of friendship with any inhabitant of the land, or it will be thy ruin;

13

destroy their altars, break their images, cut down their forest shrines.✻

14

Never pay worship to any alien god; the very name of the Lord bespeaks jealous love, he will endure no rival.

15

Do not ally yourselves, then, with those who dwell there; those faithless hearts will be set on their own gods, and when they do sacrifice to their idols, someone will bid thee come and feast upon the meat so offered.

16

Nor must thou find wives for thy sons among their daughters; faithless themselves, they will make thy sons, too, faithless, and worshippers of their own gods.

17

Cast no metal to make thyself idols.

18

Observe the feast of unleavened bread. For seven days, in the first month of spring, thou shalt eat thy bread without leaven, as I bade thee; it was in that spring month thou didst escape from Egypt.

19

The first male thing that comes from every womb is forfeit to me; every such living thing, be it ox or ass, is mine by right.

20

When an ass has her first foal, thou shalt offer a sheep in payment of its ransom; or, if thou hast no mind to ransom it, let it be killed. The first-born of thy own sons thou must ransom, presenting thyself before me with an offering.

21

Thou hast six days to work in; on the seventh, both ploughing and reaping must cease.

22

Thou shalt keep the feast of the seven weeks, with the first-fruits of thy wheat harvest, and another feast at the end of the year, when all is gathered in.

23

Thrice in the year all thy men folk shall present themselves before the Lord, the almighty God of Israel.

24

And so, when I have dispossessed the nations at thy coming, and given thee wide lands to dwell in, three times a year present thyself before the Lord thy God, and thy lands none shall invade by treachery.

25

When thou offerest living things in sacrifice to me, the bread that goes with them shall not be leavened, nor shalt thou leave any of the paschal victim till the morrow.

26

Bring the first-fruits of thy land as an offering to the house of the Lord thy God. Seething a kid in its dam’s milk is a rite forbidden thee.

27

Then the Lord said to Moses, Put these words in writing, as terms of the covenant I am making with thee and with Israel.

28

So, for forty days and nights, without food or drink, he remained there with the Lord; and he wrote down on the tablets the ten precepts of the covenant.✻

29

Moses came down, after this, from Mount Sinai, bearing with him the two tablets on which the law was written; and his face, although he did not know it, was all radiant✻ after the meeting at which he had held speech with God.

30

The sight of that radiance made Aaron and the sons of Israel shrink from all near approach to him;

31

he must call out to Aaron and the leaders of the people before they would gather round him. To these he spoke first;

32

then all the Israelites came to greet him, and he passed on to them all the commands he had received on mount Sinai.

33

When he had finished speaking, he put a veil over his face,

34

which he only laid aside when he went into the Lord’s presence and had speech with him. Afterwards he would come out, and tell the Israelites what commands had been given him;

35

so they saw his face, as he came out, still radiant, but always, when he spoke to them, he veiled his face as before.