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Exodus 34

God renews his covenant with Israel, declaring his mercy and justice while requiring undivided worship and obedience.

Moses climbs Mount Sinai alone with two new stone tablets to replace the ones he broke. YHWH descends in a cloud and proclaims his name and character. Moses bows in worship and asks for pardon and God’s presence among Israel. God renews the covenant, commanding exclusive worship and setting out rules for feasts, offerings, and Sabbath rest. After forty days and nights, Moses returns with the tablets, his face shining from speaking with God.

guilt and confessionpraise and worshipsermon or Bible study notes
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1The LORD said to Moses, “Chisel two stone tablets like the first. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
2Be 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.
3No 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.”
4He chiseled two tablets of stone like the first; then Moses rose up early in the morning, and went up to Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, and took in his hand two stone tablets.
5The LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there, and proclaimed the LORD’s name.
6The LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, “The LORD! The LORD, a merciful and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness and truth,
7keeping loving kindness for thousands, forgiving iniquity and disobedience and sin; and who will by no means clear the guilty, visiting the iniquity of the fathers on the children, and on the children’s children, on the third and on the fourth generation.”
8Moses hurried and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.
9He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go among us, even though this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”
10He said, “Behold, I make a covenant: before all your people I will do marvels, such as have not been worked in all the earth, nor in any nation; and all the people among whom you are shall see the work of the LORD; for it is an awesome thing that I do with you.
11Observe that which I command you today. Behold, I will drive out before you the Amorite, the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
12Be careful, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land where you are going, lest it be for a snare among you;
13but you shall break down their altars, and dash in pieces their pillars, and you shall cut down their Asherah poles;
14for you shall worship no other god; for the LORD, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God.
15“Don’t make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, lest they play the prostitute after their gods, and sacrifice to their gods, and one call you and you eat of his sacrifice;
16and you take of their daughters to your sons, and their daughters play the prostitute after their gods, and make your sons play the prostitute after their gods.
17“You shall make no cast idols for yourselves.
18“You shall keep the feast of unleavened bread. Seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, as I commanded you, at the time appointed in the month Abib; for in the month Abib you came out of Egypt.
19“All that opens the womb is mine; and all your livestock that is male, the firstborn of cow and sheep.
20You shall redeem the firstborn of a donkey with a lamb. If you will not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem all the firstborn of your sons. No one shall appear before me empty.
21“Six days you shall work, but on the seventh day you shall rest: in plowing time and in harvest you shall rest.
22“You shall observe the feast of weeks with the first fruits of wheat harvest, and the feast of harvest at the year’s end.
23Three times in the year all your males shall appear before the Lord GOD, the God of Israel.
24For I will drive out nations before you and enlarge your borders; neither shall any man desire your land when you go up to appear before the LORD, your God, three times in the year.
25“You shall not offer the blood of my sacrifice with leavened bread. The sacrifice of the feast of the Passover shall not be left to the morning.
26“You shall bring the first of the first fruits of your ground to the house of the LORD your God. “You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”
27The LORD said to Moses, “Write these words; for 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. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
29When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mountain, Moses didn’t know that the skin of his face shone by reason of his speaking with him.
30When Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come near him.
31Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them.
32Afterward all the children of Israel came near, and he gave them all the commandments that the LORD had spoken with him on Mount Sinai.
33When Moses was done speaking with them, he put a veil on his face.
34But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the children of Israel that which he was commanded.
35The children of Israel saw Moses’ face, that the skin of Moses’ face shone; so Moses put the veil on his face again, until he went in to speak with him.
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Key verses
Exodus 34:6God’s declaration of mercy, grace, patience, and steadfast love grounds Moses’ plea for pardon and the covenant renewal that follows.
Exodus 34:5YHWH comes down to Moses and proclaims his own name, making himself known through his presence and speech.
Exodus 34:14God’s name Jealous explains the covenant’s demand for exclusive worship and its warnings against alliances that lead Israel toward other gods.
Where this chapter reaches

Deuteronomy recounts the replacement tablets and Moses’ forty days on the mountain, while Numbers appeals to God’s declared patience, mercy, and justice. Psalm, Nehemiah, Joel, and Jonah echo the proclamation of God’s gracious character, carrying its language into praise, confession, and accounts of divine mercy.

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Notice

After reading the whole chapter

What stands out when you read God’s declaration of mercy alongside his warning about guilt?

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What do the commands about Sabbath rest during plowing and harvest reveal about Israel’s dependence on God?

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Questions people ask about Exodus 34

Why is God called Jealous in Exodus 34?

The name appears within commands forbidding worship of other gods. God claims Israel’s exclusive worship under the covenant. The surrounding verses warn that alliances, sacrificial meals, and marriages with idol worshipers can draw Israel into serving their gods. His jealousy concerns Israel’s allegiance to him.

Does Exodus 34:7 say God punishes children for their parents’ sins?

The verse says God visits the fathers’ iniquity on descendants through the third and fourth generation. It presents wrongdoing as having consequences across generations, alongside God’s far-reaching mercy and forgiveness. This chapter does not explain how guilt and consequences are distinguished for each descendant, so it leaves some questions unanswered.

Why did Moses’ face shine, and why did he wear a veil?

The text says Moses’ face shone because he had spoken with God. Aaron and the Israelites were afraid to approach him. Moses delivered God’s commands, then covered his face. He removed the veil when speaking with YHWH. The chapter describes this pattern without stating the veil’s full purpose.

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Exodus · 40 chapters
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What the Bible says about guilt →What the Bible says about worship →

Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY). Scripture from the World English Bible (public domain). Arc diagram after Chris Harrison and Christoph Römhild (2007).