The Skeptics Annotated Bible (94 page)

2 And be ready in the morning, and come up in the morning unto mount Sinai, and present thyself there to me in the top of the mount.

3 And no man shall come up with thee, neither let any man be seen throughout all the mount; neither let the flocks nor herds feed before that mount.

4 And he hewed two tables of stone like unto the first; and
Moses
rose up early in the morning, and
went up unto mount Sinai
, as the LORD had commanded him,
and took in his hand the two tables of stone.

(34.4)
“Moses … went up unto mount Sinai … and took in his hand the two tables of stone.”
117 Where did Moses receive the ten commandments?

5
And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there
, and proclaimed the name of the LORD.

(34.5)
“And the LORD descended in the cloud, and stood with him there.”

6 And the LORD passed by before him, and proclaimed, The LORD,
The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth,

(34.6)
“The LORD God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth”
120 Is God merciful?

7 Keeping mercy for thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and that will by no means clear the guilty;
visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation.

(34.7)
“Visiting the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, unto the third and to the fourth generation”
41 Are we punished for the sins of others?

8 And Moses made haste, and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshipped.

9 And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.

10 And he said, Behold, I make a covenant: before all thy people I will do marvels, such as have not been done in all the earth, nor in any nation: and all the people among which thou art shall see the work of the LORD: for it is a terrible thing that I will do with thee.

11 Observe thou that which I command thee this day: behold
, I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

(34.11)
“I drive out before thee the Amorite, and the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite.”
God drives out the pagan tribes and commands the Israelites to destroy their altars and places of worship.

12 Take heed to thyself, lest thou make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land whither thou goest, lest it be for a snare in the midst of thee:

(34.13-14) God, “whose name is Jealous,” will not tolerate the worship of any other god.
9 How many gods are there?

13 But
ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves:

(34.13)
“Ye shall destroy their altars, break their images, and cut down their groves.”

14
For thou shalt worship no other god:
for
the LORD, whose name is Jealous
, is a jealous God:

(34.14a)
“For thou shalt worship no other god.”