Exodus 31:18

31:18 He gave Moses two tablets of testimony when he had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, tablets of stone written by the finger of God. ¹ 

Exodus 32:15-16

32:15 Moses turned and went down from the mountain with ²  the two tablets of the testimony in his hands. The tablets were written on both sides – they were written on the front and on the back. 32:16 Now the tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

Deuteronomy 5:22

The Narrative of the Sinai Revelation and Israel’s Response

5:22 The Lord said these things to your entire assembly at the mountain from the middle of the fire, the cloud, and the darkness with a loud voice, and that was all he said. ³  Then he inscribed the words ⁴  on two stone tablets and gave them to me.

Nehemiah 9:13

9:13 “You came down on Mount Sinai and spoke with them from heaven. You provided them with just judgments, true laws, and good statutes and commandments.

Jeremiah 31:33

31:33 “But I will make a new covenant with the whole nation of Israel ⁵  after I plant them back in the land,” ⁶  says the Lord. ⁷  “I will ⁸  put my law within them ⁹  and write it on their hearts and minds. ¹⁰  I will be their God and they will be my people. ¹¹ 

Jeremiah 31:2

Israel Will Be Restored and Join Judah in Worship

31:2 The Lord says,

“The people of Israel who survived

death at the hands of the enemy ¹² 

will find favor in the wilderness

as they journey to find rest for themselves.

Colossians 3:3

3:3 for you have died and your life is hidden with Christ in God.

Colossians 3:7

3:7 You also lived your lives ¹³  in this way at one time, when you used to live among them.

Hebrews 9:4

9:4 It contained the golden altar of incense and the ark of the covenant covered entirely with gold. In this ark ¹⁴  were the golden urn containing the manna, Aaron’s rod that budded, and the stone tablets of the covenant.

[31:18]  ¹ sn The expression “the finger of God” has come up before in the book, in the plagues (Exod 8:15) to express that it was a demonstration of the power and authority of God. So here too the commandments given to Moses on stone tablets came from God. It too is a bold anthropomorphism; to attribute such a material action to Yahweh would have been thought provoking to say the least. But by using “God” and by stating it in an obviously figurative way, balance is maintained. Since no one writes with one finger, the expression simply says that the Law came directly from God.

[32:15]  ² tn The disjunctive vav (ו) serves here as a circumstantial clause indicator.

[5:22]  ³ tn Heb “and he added no more” (so KJV, NASB, NRSV); NLT “This was all he said at that time.”

[5:22]  ⁴ tn Heb “them”; the referent (the words spoken by the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[31:33]  ⁵ tn Heb “with the house of Israel.” All commentators agree that the term here refers to both the whole nation which was divided into the house of Israel and the house of Judah in v. 30.

[31:33]  ⁶ tn Heb “after those days.” Commentators are generally agreed that this refers to the return from exile and the repopulation of the land referred to in vv. 27-28 and not to something subsequent to the time mentioned in v. 30. This is the sequencing that is also presupposed in other new covenant passages such as Deut 30:1-6; Ezek 11:17-20; 36:24-28.

[31:33]  ⁷ tn Heb “Oracle of the Lord.”

[31:33]  ⁸ tn Heb “‘But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after these days:’ says the Lord, ‘I will….’” The sentence has been reworded and restructured to avoid the awkwardness of the original style.

[31:33]  ⁹ tn Heb “in their inward parts.” The Hebrew word here refers to the seat of the thoughts, emotions, and decisions (Jer 9:8 [9:7 HT]). It is essentially synonymous with “heart” in Hebrew psychological terms.

[31:33]  ¹⁰ tn The words “and minds” is not in the text but is supplied in the translation to bring the English psychology more into line with the Hebrew where the “heart” is the center both of knowing/thinking/reflecting and deciding/willing.

[31:33]  ¹¹ sn Compare Jer 24:7; 30:22; 31:1 and see the study note on 30:2.

[31:2]  ¹² tn Heb “who survived the sword.”

[3:7]  ¹³ tn Grk “you also walked.” The verb περιπατέω (peripatew) is commonly used in the NT to refer to behavior or conduct of one’s life (L&N 41.11).

[9:4]  ¹⁴ tn Grk “in which”; in the translation the referent (the ark) has been specified for clarity.