Exodus 34:28
So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments.
English Standard Version (ESV)
This page isn't yet indexed by search engines.
While Moses was on the mountain for forty days and nights, sustained miraculously without food or water, it wasn't Moses himself who wrote on the stone tablets. The text clearly points to God as the one doing the writing, emphasizing that God’s covenant laws are His own direct communication to His people, not just instructions passed through a mediator.
Following Moses' destruction of the first stone tablets after witnessing the people's idolatry, he ascends Mount Sinai again. This second, extended period of forty days and nights with God is a time for renewed communion and intercession for the people. Upon his descent, God himself inscribes the Ten Commandments onto a new set of tablets, symbolizing the re-establishment of their covenant relationship.
Understand the original words
dabar (lit. "ten words") · Hebrew Noun
The moral and ceremonial laws given by God to Israel at Sinai. They serve as the foundation of the covenant, setting forth the requirements for holiness and the standards of life in relationship with God.
This passage directly parallels Moses' forty days and nights of fasting on the mountain, linking it to his intercession for the people after the golden calf incident, just as in Exodus 34.
1 Kings 19:8It describes Elijah also fasting for forty days and nights, sustained by God's power, highlighting the miraculous nature of such prolonged fasts when in God's presence.
Matthew 4:2This verse recounts Jesus fasting for forty days and nights in the wilderness, showing a divine pattern of extended fasting connected to significant spiritual encounters and trials.
Exodus 24:18This earlier passage in Exodus sets the precedent for Moses spending forty days and nights on Mount Sinai with the Lord, establishing the pattern for this later, renewed encounter.
Deuteronomy 10:4This verse confirms that God Himself wrote the Ten Commandments on the second set of stone tablets, clarifying that it was the 'finger of God' and not Moses' own hand.
jfbExodus 34:28: "And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments."
- he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights—as long as formerly [Ex 24:18], being sustained for the execution of his special duties by the miraculous power of God. A special cause is assigned for his protracted fast on this second occasion (De 9:18).
gillExodus 34:28: "And he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights; he did neither eat bread, nor drink water. And he wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the ten commandments."
And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights,.... These were other forty days and nights, besides those he had been with the Lord, when he came down and broke the two tables in his hand, on sight of the idolatry of the people; yea, not only the Jewish writers think that he was on the mou…
While Moses was on the mountain for forty days and nights, sustained miraculously without food or water, it wasn't Moses himself who wrote on the stone tablets. The text clearly points to God as the one doing the writing, emphasizing that God’s covenant laws are His own direct communication to His people, not just instructions passed through a mediator.
Following Moses' destruction of the first stone tablets after witnessing the people's idolatry, he ascends Mount Sinai again. This second, extended period of forty days and nights with God is a time for renewed communion and intercession for the people. Upon his descent, God himself inscribes the Ten Commandments onto a new set of tablets, symbolizing the re-establishment of their covenant relationship.
Following Moses' destruction of the first stone tablets after witnessing the people's idolatry, he ascends Mount Sinai again. This second, extended period of forty days and nights with God is a time for renewed communion and intercession for the people. Upon his descent, God himself inscribes the Ten Commandments onto a new set of tablets, symbolizing the re-establishment of their covenant relationship.
Get the original Greek and Hebrew, verse-by-verse context, and related passages inside the app.
Ask a follow-up
Ask Sola things like:
Live chat about Exodus 34:28 is available in the Sola app.
"So he was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights. He neither ate bread nor drank water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments." — While Moses was on the mountain for forty days and nights, sustained miraculously without food or water, it wasn't Moses himself who wrote on the stone tablets. The text clearly points to God as the…
