When the Lord finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, he gave him the two stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, written by the finger of God.
Parallel translations
- WEB He gave to Moses, when he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony, stone tablets, written with God’s finger.
- KJV And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.
- BSB When the LORD had finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.
- NKJV And when He had made an end of speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone, written with the finger of God.
- NASB When He had finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, He gave Moses the two tablets of the testimony, tablets of stone, written by the finger of God.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God gave Moses the two stone tablets of the testimony, written by God's own finger. The covenant law came directly from God Himself.
Overview
The tablets, inscribed by 'God's finger,' underscored the divine origin and authority of the Ten Commandments. This solemn gift concluded Moses' time on the mountain. The contrast is striking with the next scene below, where Israel breaks the covenant, highlighting humanity's need for a new covenant written on the heart, accomplished by Christ (Jeremiah 31:33; 2 Corinthians 3:3).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 14
- Deut 4:13He declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the ten commandments. He wrote them on two stone tablets.
- Exod 32:15–16Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the testimony in his hand; tablets that were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other they were written.
- Deut 5:22Yahweh spoke these words to all your assembly on the mountain out of the middle of the fire, of the cloud, and of the thick darkness, with a great voice. He added no more. He wrote them on two stone tablets, and gave them to me.
- Exod 24:12Yahweh said to Moses, “Come up to me on the mountain, and stay here, and I will give you the stone tablets with the law and the commands that I have written, that you may teach them.”
- Exod 8:19Then the magicians said to Pharaoh, “This is God’s finger:” and Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he didn’t listen to them; as Yahweh had spoken.
- 2 Cor 3:3being revealed that you are a letter of Christ, served by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tablets of stone, but in tablets that are hearts of flesh.
- Luke 11:20But if I by God’s finger cast out demons, then God’s Kingdom has come to you.
- Deut 9:9–11When I had gone up onto the mountain to receive the stone tablets, even the tablets of the covenant which Yahweh made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water.
- Exod 34:1–4Yahweh said to Moses, “Chisel two stone tablets like the first: and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
- Exod 34:28–29He was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights; he neither ate bread, nor drank water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments.
- 2 Cor 3:7–8But if the service of death, written engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the children of Israel could not look steadfastly on the face of Moses for the glory of his face; which was passing away:
- Jer 31:33“But this is the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days,” says Yahweh: I will put my law in their inward parts, and in their heart will I write it; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people:
- Matt 12:28But if I by the Spirit of God cast out demons, then God’s Kingdom has come upon you.
- Exod 24:18Moses entered into the middle of the cloud, and went up on the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 31:18 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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