19:16 On 1 the third day in the morning there was thunder and lightning and a dense 2 cloud on the mountain, and the sound of a very loud 3 horn; 4 all the people who were in the camp trembled.
34:1 5 The Lord said to Moses, “Cut out 6 two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write 7 on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you smashed.
1 tn Heb “and it was on.”
2 tn Heb “heavy” (כָּבֵד, kaved).
3 tn Literally “strong” (חָזָק, khazaq).
4 tn The word here is שֹׁפָר (shofar), the normal word for “horn.” This word is used especially to announce something important in a public event (see 1 Kgs 1:34; 2 Sam 6:15). The previous word used in the context (v. 16) was יֹבֵל (yovel, “ram’s horn”).
5 sn The restoration of the faltering community continues in this chapter. First, Moses is instructed to make new tablets and take them to the mountain (1-4). Then, through the promised theophany God proclaims his moral character (5-8). Moses responds with the reiteration of the intercession (8), and God responds with the renewal of the covenant (10-28). To put these into expository form, as principles, the chapter would run as follows: I. God provides for spiritual renewal (1-4), II. God reminds people of his moral standard (5-9), III. God renews his covenant promises and stipulations (10-28).
6 tn The imperative is followed by the preposition with a suffix expressing the ethical dative; it strengthens the instruction for Moses. Interestingly, the verb “cut out, chisel, hew,” is the same verb from which the word for a “graven image” is derived – פָּסַל (pasal).
7 tn The perfect tense with vav consecutive makes the value of this verb equal to an imperfect tense, probably a simple future here.