Keluaran 23:14-17

23:14 “Three times ¹  in the year you must make a pilgrim feast ²  to me. 23:15 You are to observe the Feast of Unleavened Bread; seven days ³  you must eat bread made without yeast, as I commanded you, at the appointed time of the month of Abib, for at that time ⁴  you came out of Egypt. No one may appear before ⁵  me empty-handed.

23:16 “You are also to observe ⁶  the Feast of Harvest, the firstfruits of your labors that you have sown in the field, and the Feast of Ingathering at the end of the year ⁷  when you have gathered in ⁸  your harvest ⁹  out of the field. 23:17 At ¹⁰  three times in the year all your males will appear before the Lord God. ¹¹ 

Keluaran 34:22-23

34:22 “You must observe ¹²  the Feast of Weeks – the firstfruits of the harvest of wheat – and the Feast of Ingathering at the end ¹³  of the year. 34:23 At three times ¹⁴  in the year all your men ¹⁵  must appear before the Lord God, ¹⁶  the God of Israel.

Keluaran 34:1

The New Tablets of the Covenant

34:1 ¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, “Cut out ¹⁸  two tablets of stone like the first, and I will write ¹⁹  on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you smashed.

Kisah Para Rasul 9:25

9:25 But his disciples took him at night and let him down through an opening ²⁰  in the wall by lowering him in a basket. ²¹ 

[23:14]  ¹ tn The expression rendered “three times” is really “three feet,” or “three foot-beats.” The expression occurs only a few times in the Law. The expressing is an adverbial accusative.

[23:14]  ² tn This is the word תָּחֹג (takhog) from the root חָגַג (khagag); it describes a feast that was accompanied by a pilgrimage. It was first used by Moses in his appeal that Israel go three days into the desert to hold such a feast.

[23:15]  ³ tn This is an adverbial accusative of time.

[23:15]  ⁴ tn Heb “in it.”

[23:15]  ⁵ tn The verb is a Niphal imperfect; the nuance of permission works well here – no one is permitted to appear before God empty (Heb “and they will not appear before me empty”).

[23:16]  ⁶ tn The words “you are also to observe” are not in the Hebrew text, but are supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[23:16]  ⁷ tn An infinitive construct with a preposition and a pronominal suffix is used to make a temporal clause: “in the going in of the year.” The word “year” is the subjective genitive, the subject of the clause.

[23:16]  ⁸ tn An infinitive construct with a preposition and a pronominal suffix is used to make a temporal clause: “in the ingathering of you.”

[23:16]  ⁹ tn Heb “gathered in your labors.” This is a metonymy of cause put for the effect. “Labors” are not gathered in, but what the labors produced – the harvest.

[23:17]  ¹⁰ tn Adverbial accusative of time: “three times” becomes “at three times.”

[23:17]  ¹¹ tn Here the divine Name reads in Hebrew הָאָדֹן יְהוָה (ha’adon yÿhvah), which if rendered according to the traditional scheme of “Lord” for “Yahweh” would result in “Lord Lord.” A number of English versions therefore render this phrase “Lord God,” and that convention has been followed here.

[34:22]  ¹² tn The imperfect tense means “you will do”; it is followed by the preposition with a suffix to express the ethical dative to stress the subject.

[34:22]  ¹³ tn The expression is “the turn of the year,” which is parallel to “the going out of the year,” and means the end of the agricultural season.

[34:23]  ¹⁴ tn “Three times” is an adverbial accusative.

[34:23]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “all your males.”

[34:23]  ¹⁶ tn Here the divine name reads in Hebrew הָאָדֹן יְהוָה (ha’adon yÿhvah), which if rendered according to the traditional scheme of “Lord” for “Yahweh” would result in “Lord Lord.” A number of English versions therefore render this phrase “Lord God,” and that convention has been followed here.

[34:23]  sn The title “Lord” is included here before the divine name (translated “God” here; see Exod 23:17), perhaps to form a contrast with Baal (which means “lord” as well) and to show the sovereignty of Yahweh. But the distinct designation “the God of Israel” is certainly the point of the renewed covenant relationship.

[34:1]  ¹⁷ sn The restoration of the faltering community continues in this chapter. First, Moses is instructed to make new tablets and take them to the mountain (1-4). Then, through the promised theophany God proclaims his moral character (5-8). Moses responds with the reiteration of the intercession (8), and God responds with the renewal of the covenant (10-28). To put these into expository form, as principles, the chapter would run as follows: I. God provides for spiritual renewal (1-4), II. God reminds people of his moral standard (5-9), III. God renews his covenant promises and stipulations (10-28).

[34:1]  ¹⁸ tn The imperative is followed by the preposition with a suffix expressing the ethical dative; it strengthens the instruction for Moses. Interestingly, the verb “cut out, chisel, hew,” is the same verb from which the word for a “graven image” is derived – פָּסַל (pasal).

[34:1]  ¹⁹ tn The perfect tense with vav consecutive makes the value of this verb equal to an imperfect tense, probably a simple future here.

[34:1]  sn Nothing is said of how God was going to write on these stone tablets at this point, but in the end it is Moses who wrote the words. This is not considered a contradiction, since God is often credited with things he has people do in his place. There is great symbolism in this command – if ever a command said far more than it actually said, this is it. The instruction means that the covenant had been renewed, or was going to be renewed, and that the sanctuary with the tablets in the ark at its center would be built (see Deut 10:1). The first time Moses went up he was empty-handed; when he came down he smashed the tablets because of the Israelites’ sin. Now the people would see him go up with empty tablets and be uncertain whether he would come back with the tablets inscribed again (B. Jacob, Exodus, 977-78).

[9:25]  ²⁰ tn The opening in the wall is not specifically mentioned here, but the parallel account in 2 Cor 11:33 mentions a “window” or “opening” (θυρίς, quris) in the city wall through which Paul was lowered. One alternative to introducing mention of the opening is to translate Acts 9:25 “they let him down over the wall,” as suggested in L&N 7.61. This option is not employed by many translations, however, because for the English reader it creates an (apparent) contradiction between Acts 9:25 and 2 Cor 11:33. In reality the account here is simply more general, omitting the detail about the window.

[9:25]  ²¹ tn On the term for “basket” used here, see BDAG 940 s.v. σπυρίς.