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

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.

Exodus 27:8

27:8 You are to make the altar hollow, out of boards. Just as it was shown you ³  on the mountain, so they must make it. ⁴ 

Exodus 34:4

34:4 So Moses ⁵  cut out two tablets of stone like the first; ⁶  early in the morning he went up ⁷  to Mount Sinai, just as the Lord had commanded him, and he took in his hand the two tablets of stone.

Exodus 38:7

38:7 He put the poles into the rings on the sides of the altar, with which to carry it. He made the altar ⁸  hollow, out of boards.

[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.

[27:8]  ³ tn The verb is used impersonally; it reads “just as he showed you.” This form then can be made a passive in the translation.

[27:8]  ⁴ tn Heb “thus they will make.” Here too it could be given a passive translation since the subject is not expressed. But “they” would normally refer to the people who will be making this and so can be retained in the translation.

[34:4]  ⁴ tn Heb “he”; the referent has been specified here and the name “Moses,” which occurs later in this verse, has been replaced with the pronoun (“he”), both for stylistic reasons.

[34:4]  ⁵ sn Deuteronomy says that Moses was also to make an ark of acacia wood before the tablets, apparently to put the tablets in until the sanctuary was built. But this ark may not have been the ark built later; or, it might be the wood box, but Bezalel still had to do all the golden work with it.

[34:4]  ⁶ tn The line reads “and Moses got up early in the morning and went up.” These verbs likely form a verbal hendiadys, the first one with its prepositional phrase serving in an adverbial sense.

[38:7]  ⁵ tn Heb “it”; the referent (the altar) has been specified in the translation for clarity.