New tablets

10 At that time the Lord told me: Carve two stone tablets, just like the first ones, and hike up the mountain to me. Construct a wooden chest as well. ² I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets—the ones you smashed—then you will place them in the chest.

³ So I built a chest out of acacia wood and carved two stone tablets just like the first ones. Then I hiked up the mountain holding the two tablets in my hands. ⁴ God wrote on the new tablets what had been written on the first set: the Ten Commandments that the Lord spoke to you on the mountain, from the very fire itself, on the day we assembled there. Then the Lord gave them to me.

⁵ So I came back down the mountain. I put the tablets in the chest that I’d made, and that’s where they are now, exactly as the Lord commanded me.

(⁶ Now, the Israelites had set out from Beeroth-bene-jaakan^[a] to Moserah. It was there that Aaron died and was buried. His son Eleazar succeeded him in the priestly role. ⁷ From there the Israelites traveled to Gudgodah, then from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, which is a land with flowing streams. ⁸ At that time, the Lord selected the tribe of Levi to carry the chest containing the Lord’s covenant, to minister before the Lord, to serve him, and to offer blessings in his name. That’s the way things are right now. ⁹ That’s why the Levites don’t have a stake or inheritance with the rest of their relatives. The Lord is the Levites’ inheritance, just as the Lord your God promised them.)

¹⁰ Just as the first time, I remained on the mountain forty days and nights. And the Lord listened to me again in this instance. The Lord wasn’t willing to destroy you. ¹¹ Then the Lord told me: Get going. Lead the people so they can enter and take possession of the land that I promised I’d give to their ancestors.

What the Lord requires

¹² Now in light of all that, Israel, what does the Lord your God ask of you? Only this: to revere the Lord your God by walking in all his ways, by loving him, by serving the Lord your God with all your heart and being, ¹³ and by keeping the Lord’s commandments and his regulations that I’m commanding you right now. It’s for your own good!

¹⁴ Clearly, the Lord owns the sky, the highest heavens, the earth, and everything in it. ¹⁵ But the Lord adored your ancestors, loving them and choosing the descendants that followed them—you!—from all other people. That’s how things still stand now. ¹⁶ So circumcise your hearts^[b] and stop being so stubborn, ¹⁷ because the Lord your God is the God of all gods and Lord of all lords, the great, mighty, and awesome God who doesn’t play favorites and doesn’t take bribes. ¹⁸ He enacts justice for orphans and widows, and he loves immigrants, giving them food and clothing. ¹⁹ That means you must also love immigrants because you were immigrants in Egypt. ²⁰ Revere the Lord your God, serve him, cling to him, swear by his name alone! ²¹ He is your praise, and he is your God—the one who performed these great and awesome acts that you witnessed with your very own eyes. ²² Your ancestors went down to Egypt with a total of seventy people, but now look! The Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the nighttime sky!