Exodus 34
BSASBAfter Israel’s golden calf and the broken tablets, God renews His covenant. He shows Moses His character: merciful and patient, yet just. He gives Israel fresh warnings against idolatry, restates key feasts and laws, and writes the words again. Moses comes down with a shining face, a sign that he has been in God’s presence.
Exodus 34:1
God offers a second start. Moses must cut new tablets, but God will write the same words on them. The first set was broken through Israel’s sin, yet the covenant is not abandoned. Mercy begins with God’s willingness to restore what people have ruined.
BSA: broke (“shattered, ruptured, or fractured”): The breaking was a violent, real loss, which makes God’s renewal all the more gracious. Chisel (“hew, cut, or quarry”): Moses must do the hard physical labor of preparing the stones, while God supplies the writing.
See also: Exodus 32:19.
Exodus 34:2-3
Moses must be ready at dawn and come alone to the mountaintop. No person and no animal may be seen on the mountain. After the sin of the calf, God’s holiness is again guarded with clear boundaries, and Moses alone is invited near.
BSA: present yourself (“stand before, station yourself”): Moses is to take his place deliberately in God’s presence, like a servant reporting for duty.
Exodus 34:4
Moses obeys exactly and promptly. He cuts the stones, rises early, and climbs carrying them. His careful obedience stands against the people’s earlier restlessness at the foot of the mountain. Faith here shows itself in simply doing what God has said.
BSA: rose (“got up early, ascended”): His early start shows eagerness to meet God and obey Him.
Exodus 34:5
The LORD comes down in the cloud and stands with Moses. Then He announces His own name. In Scripture a name is more than a label. It tells who someone is, so what follows is God describing Himself.
BSA: name (“identity, character, and honor”): God is about to reveal not just a title but who He is in His nature.
Hebrew: שֵׁם (shem, H8033) — “name.” In Hebrew thought a name carries a person’s character and reputation. When God proclaims His name, the next verses unfold His character.
See also: Exodus 33:19.
Exodus 34:6
God’s self-portrait begins with mercy. He is compassionate, gracious, patient, and rich in steadfast love and truth. Before anything is said about judgment, God tells Moses about His heart. This sentence is quoted again and again through the Old Testament.
BSA: compassionate (“merciful, full of pity”): God feels for people in their weakness, as a parent feels for a hurting child. loving devotion (“kindness, mercy”): It is a kindness that sticks to its promises and does not give up.
Hebrew: חֶסֶד (chesed, H2617) — “loyal, covenant love.” This word means love that keeps faith with its promise. It is God’s committed love that stays even when people fail.
See also: Psalm 103:8; Jonah 4:2.
Exodus 34:7
God keeps loving devotion for thousands and forgives every kind of wrongdoing. Yet He does not ignore unrepentant guilt. The mention of the third and fourth generations shows how sin spreads through families and communities. Christians read this alongside God’s wider teaching that each person answers for his own sin.
BSA: forgiving (“pardoning, overlooking”): God truly lifts the sin from the sinner; it is not just brushed aside.
Hebrew: נֹשֵׂא (nosé, H5375) — “lifting, carrying away.” The word for forgiving literally means to lift up and carry. God takes the weight of sin off the guilty person.
See also: Exodus 20:5-6; Ezekiel 18:20.
Exodus 34:8-9
Moses bows at once and prays. He does not make excuses for Israel’s stubbornness. He uses it as the reason God must go with them and forgive. He asks God to take the people as His own. Real prayer leans on God’s mercy, not on the people’s merit.
BSA: inheritance (“possession, treasured people”): Moses asks God to claim Israel as His own treasured people, not to disown them. stiff-necked (“rebellious, stubborn”): It describes a people who refuse to bend under God’s direction.
See also: Exodus 33:3.
Exodus 34:10
God answers by making a covenant and promising wonders no nation has seen. These works will make others stand in awe, and they will be done with Israel and for them. God’s covenant love goes forward with power.
BSA: awesome (“fearful, terrible”): God’s deeds are so great that they strike people with holy fear.
Hebrew: נוֹרָא (nora, H3372) — “awesome, to be feared.” The word carries the sense of something so great it inspires reverent dread, not just admiration.
Exodus 34:11
God commands obedience and promises to drive out six peoples living in Canaan. The list shows that the land is God’s gift, not something Israel wins by its own strength. The people’s part is to hear and keep what He says.
BSA: drive out (“expel, cast out”): God Himself will clear the way, so the conquest rests on His action.
Exodus 34:12
Israel is warned not to make treaties with the land’s inhabitants. The danger is not simple neighborliness but being drawn into their worship. What looks like friendship could become a trap that pulls God’s people away from Him.
BSA: snare (“trap, cause of ruin”): Compromise with idolatry is like bait on a trap, harmless-looking but deadly.
See also: Deuteronomy 7:1-5.
Exodus 34:13
Israel is to tear down the pagan altars, stones, and Asherah poles. These were the centers of the false worship around them. God’s people were not to leave such things standing, lest they become a temptation. This is about removing what draws the heart away.
BSA: sacred stones (“pillars, monuments”): Standing pillars marked places where false gods were honored.
Exodus 34:14
The reason is simple: the LORD will share His people’s worship with no other. He calls Himself Jealous. This is not petty envy but the fierce love of a husband for his bride, who rightly expects faithfulness.
BSA: jealous (“possessively loving, fiercely devoted”): God’s jealousy is a protective love that cares deeply about His people’s loyalty.
Hebrew: קַנָּא (qanna, H7067) — “jealous, zealous.” This word is used only of God. It describes a passionate, exclusive devotion, like the love in marriage.
See also: Exodus 20:5.
Exodus 34:15-16
Treaties lead to shared meals, and meals at pagan feasts mean joining in idol worship. Marriages with those who serve other gods could draw sons away too. The Bible calls unfaithfulness to God spiritual adultery, since God’s covenant is like a marriage.
BSA: prostitute (“commit spiritual adultery, go astray”): Idolatry is pictured as a betrayal of the covenant, like unfaithfulness in marriage.
Hebrew: זָנָה (zanah, H2181) — “to be unfaithful, to play the harlot.” The prophets later use this same word for Israel’s chasing after other gods, picturing the covenant as a marriage.
See also: 1 Kings 11:1-4.
Exodus 34:17
A short, direct command: no cast metal gods. Israel has just seen the cost of the golden calf. The verse reminds them that God cannot be made by human hands or shaped to suit human wishes.
BSA: molten (“cast metal, liquid”): The word recalls the idol of melted gold that Israel had just made.
See also: Exodus 32:4.
Exodus 34:18
The yearly feasts are restated, beginning with Unleavened Bread. For seven days Israel eats bread without yeast as a memorial of the night they left Egypt in haste. Each year the people remember that they are a rescued people.
BSA: Abib (“the month of new beginnings, young barley”): The month name points to spring and the green barley, a fitting season for a new start.
See also: Exodus 12:14-20.
Exodus 34:19-20
Every firstborn belongs to God, a reminder of Israel’s rescue from Egypt. Firstborn sons and unclean animals like donkeys must be bought back with a substitute. No one should come before God empty-handed; worship involves giving back what He has given.
BSA: redeem (“with a price, ransom”): Redemption means paying a price to release what is owed to God.
Hebrew: פָּדָה (padah, H6299) — “to ransom, buy back.” This word describes setting someone free by paying a price. It is a key picture of rescue throughout the Old Testament.
See also: Exodus 13:11-15.
Exodus 34:21
Six days of work and the seventh for rest, even in the busiest seasons of plowing and harvest. The Sabbath tells the people that life does not depend on endless labor but on trusting God to provide.
BSA: rest (“cease from work, desist”): The Sabbath means actually stopping, even when the work seems urgent.
Hebrew: תִּשְׁבֹּת (tishbot, H7673) — “you shall cease, you shall rest.” It comes from the same root as Sabbath and means to stop or cease from work.
See also: Exodus 20:8-11.
Exodus 34:22-23
Two more feasts mark the farming year: Weeks, at the wheat harvest, and Ingathering, at the year’s end. Three times a year the men are to appear before the LORD. Israel’s calendar is built around God, and harvest and worship go together.
BSA: firstfruits (“early, choice produce”): The first and best of the crop is offered as thanks before the rest is enjoyed.
See also: Leviticus 23:15-21.
Exodus 34:24
God gives a promise of protection. As He enlarges Israel’s borders, no enemy will take advantage when the men go up to worship. Obeying God’s call to worship does not leave the land exposed; He guards what is left behind.
BSA: covet (“desire, take great pleasure in”): Neighboring peoples may long for Israel’s land, but God will keep them from acting on it.
Exodus 34:25
Two rules protect the meaning of sacrifice. Blood is not to be offered with leavened bread, and no Passover meat is to be left until morning. The Passover is to be handled with care and completed in its proper time.
BSA: Passover Feast (“a celebration of liberation, commemorating the Exodus”): The feast looks back to God’s deliverance, so it is treated as holy.
See also: Exodus 12:8-10.
Exodus 34:26
Israel is to bring the very best of the first harvest to God’s house. The ban on boiling a kid in its mother’s milk is often read as a rejection of cruel pagan practice, or as respect for the tenderness of life. The text itself gives no further reason.
BSA: firstfruits (“the first ripe fruits, the choicest produce”): God receives the best, not the leftovers.
See also: Exodus 23:19; Proverbs 3:9.
Exodus 34:27
God tells Moses to write down these words, since the covenant rests on them. The words are a firm basis for the relationship between God and Israel. God has spoken, and His promise is now recorded so it can be known and kept.
BSA: Write down (“record, inscribe”): The covenant is put in writing so it can be remembered and passed on.
Hebrew: כָּרַתִּי (karatti, H3772) — “I have cut (a covenant).” The Hebrew speaks of cutting a covenant, recalling the solemn sacrifices that sealed such agreements.
Exodus 34:28
Moses stays forty days and nights with the LORD without food or water, which is only possible by God’s sustaining power. He writes the covenant words, the Ten Commandments, on the tablets. Moses’ life is held up by God’s presence alone.
BSA: forty days and forty nights (“a significant period of time, a period of testing”): Forty is a number the Bible often links with testing and preparation.
See also: Deuteronomy 9:9.
Exodus 34:29
Moses comes down with the tablets, unaware that his face is shining. Time with God leaves its mark on a person without the person noticing. The glow is a visible sign that he has spoken with God.
BSA: radiant (“shone, glowed”): His face reflected the glory of God he had been near.
Hebrew: קָרַן (qaran, H7160) — “to shine, send out rays.” The word is linked to the Hebrew for a horn, picturing rays of light beaming out from his face.
See also: Matthew 17:2.
Exodus 34:30
Aaron and the people see the glow and are afraid to approach. After the golden calf, they now feel the weight of God’s holiness. They see that Moses has met with One before whom sinners cannot stand casually.
BSA: afraid (“filled with awe, reverent fear”): Their fear was a mixture of awe and an awareness of their own unworthiness.
Exodus 34:31-32
Moses calls them near, and first the leaders and then all the people come. He gives them everything God has said on the mountain. The mediator who shone with God’s glory now brings God’s word to the people.
BSA: commanded (“gave orders, instructed”): Moses passes on God’s words with God’s authority.
Exodus 34:33
After speaking, Moses puts a veil over his face. The text does not say why here. Paul later explains that the glory was fading, and that the veil shows how Israel could not fully see what the old covenant pointed toward.
BSA: veil (“a covering, a mask”): The covering hid the glow of God’s glory from the people’s eyes.
See also: 2 Corinthians 3:13-16.
Exodus 34:34-35
This was Moses’ habit. He removed the veil when he went in to speak with God, shared God’s words with the people with an unveiled face, and then covered it again. His face was renewed by each meeting. Paul sees in this a picture of believers, who with unveiled faces are being changed from glory to glory.
BSA: remove (“to turn aside, to take away”): In God’s presence Moses had nothing between himself and the LORD.
See also: 2 Corinthians 3:18.