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 34:1

The New Tablets of the Covenant

34:1 ² The Lord said to Moses, “Cut out ³  two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write ⁴  on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you smashed.

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.

Deuteronomy 9:9-11

9:9 When I went up the mountain to receive the stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant that the Lord made with you, I remained there ⁸  forty days and nights, eating and drinking nothing. 9:10 The Lord gave me the two stone tablets, written by the very finger ⁹  of God, and on them was everything ¹⁰  he ¹¹  said to you at the mountain from the midst of the fire at the time of that assembly. 9:11 Now at the end of the forty days and nights the Lord presented me with the two stone tablets, the tablets of the covenant.

Deuteronomy 9:15

9:15 So I turned and went down the mountain while it ¹²  was blazing with fire; the two tablets of the covenant were in my hands.

Deuteronomy 10:1-2

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. ¹³  10:2 I will write on the tablets the same words ¹⁴  that were on the first tablets you broke, and you must put them into the ark.”

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 ¹⁵  in this way at one time, when you used to live among them.

Hebrews 8:10

8:10 “For this is the covenant that I will establish with the house of Israel after those days, says the Lord. I will put ¹⁶  my laws in their minds ¹⁷  and I will inscribe them on their hearts. And I will be their God and they will be my people. ¹⁸ 

[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.

[34:1]  ² 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).

[34:1]  ³ 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).

[34:1]  ⁴ tn The perfect tense with vav consecutive makes the value of this verb equal to an imperfect tense, probably a simple future here.

[34:4]  ⁵ 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]  ⁶ 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]  ⁷ 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.

[9:9]  ⁸ tn Heb “in the mountain.” The demonstrative pronoun has been used in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[9:10]  ⁹ sn The very finger of God. This is a double figure of speech (1) in which God is ascribed human features (anthropomorphism) and (2) in which a part stands for the whole (synecdoche). That is, God, as Spirit, has no literal finger nor, if he had, would he write with his finger. Rather, the sense is that God himself – not Moses in any way – was responsible for the composition of the Ten Commandments (cf. Exod 31:18; 32:16; 34:1).

[9:10]  ¹⁰ tn Heb “according to all the words.”

[9:10]  ¹¹ tn Heb “the Lord” (likewise at the beginning of vv. 12, 13). See note on “he” in 9:3.

[9:15]  ¹² tn Heb “the mountain.” The translation uses a pronoun for stylistic reasons to avoid redundancy.

[10:1]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ 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.

[3:7]  ¹⁵ 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).

[8:10]  ¹⁶ tn Grk “putting…I will inscribe.”

[8:10]  ¹⁷ tn Grk “mind.”

[8:10]  ¹⁸ tn Grk “I will be to them for a God and they will be to me for a people,” following the Hebrew constructions of Jer 31.