Deuteronomy 10:1-3

The Opportunity to Begin Again

10:1 At that same time the Lord said to me, “Carve out for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones and come up the mountain to me; also make for yourself a wooden ark. ¹  10:2 I will write on the tablets the same words ²  that were on the first tablets you broke, and you must put them into the ark.” 10:3 So I made an ark of acacia ³  wood and carved out two stone tablets just like the first ones. Then I went up the mountain with the two tablets in my hands.

[10:1]  ¹ tn Or “chest” (so NIV, CEV); NLT “sacred chest”; TEV “wooden box.” This chest was made of acacia wood; it is later known as the ark of the covenant.

[10:2]  ² sn The same words. The care with which the replacement copy must be made underscores the importance of verbal precision in relaying the Lord’s commandments.

[10:3]  ³ sn Acacia wood (Heb “shittim wood”). This is wood from the acacia, the most common timber tree of the Sinai region. Most likely it is the species Acacia raddiana because this has the largest trunk. See F. N. Hepper, Illustrated Encyclopedia of Bible Plants, 63.