Exodus 34:28 · Bible study
Exodus 34:28 Commentary: Who Wrote the Ten Commandments?
Hebrew · 10 what the commentators say
Meaning in one sentence
Exodus 34:28 raises a key question: did Moses or God write the Ten Commandments on the tablets? Explore the debate and its meaning for covenant faith.
Research Summary
- Meaning: Moses’ forty-day fast and the writing of the covenant words on stone tablets, marking the renewal of God’s covenant after the golden calf rebellion.
- Key words: vayyikhtov (and he wrote), subject ambiguous; ha’aseret haddevarim (the ten words), first appearance of the phrase; luschot (tablets), stone slabs for writing.
- Main debate: Whether “he wrote” refers to Moses (following v. 27) or to God (following Ex 34:1, Ex 31:18).
- Theological theme: Covenant renewal and the faithful endurance of the mediator. God restores broken relationship and confirms His words in stone.
- Best use: As a key text for teaching about God’s mercy after failure, the uniqueness of Moses’ role, and the authority of the Ten Commandments as divine words.
Translation Comparison
BSB Berean Standard Bible 2020
So Moses was there with the LORD forty days and forty nights without eating bread or drinking water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant—the Ten Commandments.
WEB World English Bible 2000
He 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.
KJV King James Version 1769
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.
ASV American Standard Version 1901
And he was there with Jehovah 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.
YLT Young's Literal Translation 1898
And he is there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights; bread he hath not eaten, and water he hath not drunk; and he writeth on the tables the matters of the covenant--the ten matters.
Darby Darby Bible 1890
— And he was there with Jehovah forty days and forty nights; he ate no bread, and drank no water. — And he wrote on the tables the words of the covenant, the ten words.
Douay-Rheims Douay-Rheims Bible 1899
And he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights: he neither ate bread nor drank water, and he wrote upon the tables the ten words of the covenant.
Translations in other languages (10 available)
Y él estuvo allí con Jehová cuarenta días y cuarenta noches: no comió pan, ni bebió agua; y escribió en tablas las palabras de la alianza, las diez palabras.
E ele esteve ali com o SENHOR quarenta dias e quarenta noites: não comeu pão, nem bebeu água; e escreveu em tábuas as palavras da aliança, os dez dizeres.
Moïse fut là avec l’ Éternel quarante jours et quarante nuits. Il ne mangea point de pain, et il ne but point d’ eau. Et l’ Éternel écrivit sur les tables les paroles de l’ alliance, les dix paroles.
Und er war allda bei dem HERRN vierzig Tage und vierzig Nächte und aß kein Brot und trank kein Wasser. Und er schrieb auf die Tafeln die Worte des Bundes, die Zehn Worte.
En hij was aldaar met den HEERE, veertig dagen en veertig nachten; hij at geen brood, en hij dronk geen water; en Hij schreef op de tafelen de woorden des verbonds, de tien woorden.
E Mosè rimase quivi con l’Eterno quaranta giorni e quaranta notti; non mangiò pane e non bevve acqua. E l’Eterno scrisse sulle tavole le parole del patto, le dieci parole.
I był tam z Panem czterdzieści dni i czterdzieści nocy; chleba nie jadł, i wody nie pił; i napisał Pan na tablicach słowa przymierza, dziesięć słów.
И пробыл там [Моисей] у Господа сорок дней и сорок ночей, хлеба не ел и воды не пил; и написал [Моисей] на скрижалях слова завета, десятословие.
摩西在 耶和華 那裡 四十 晝 夜，也不 吃 飯 也不 喝 水。耶和華將 這約 的話，就是十 條誡，寫 在 兩塊版上。
And for forty days and forty nights Moses was there with the Lord, and in that time he had no food or drink. And he put in writing on the stones the words of the agreement, the ten rules of the law.
Verse in Context
Original Language (Biblical Hebrew)
Old Testament · Biblical Hebrew · Exodus 34:28
Source: STEPBible TAGNT/TEHB (CC-BY 4.0). Click or tap a morphology code to see the full parsing.
Scholars' Consensus
Commentators agree that Exodus 34:28 records a supernatural forty-day fast and the inscription of covenant words on stone tablets. The fast, neither eating nor drinking, is widely understood as miraculous, not ascetic discipline. But they disagree on the subject of “he wrote.” Barnes, Gill, and Keil-Delitzsch identify the writer as Yahweh, appealing to Exodus 34:1 (“I will write on the tablets”) and Deuteronomy 10:2-4. The Cambridge Bible notes that in the present narrative context (v. 27: Yahweh says “Write these words”) the antecedent of “he” is Moses, though the verse may once have referred to Yahweh in an earlier source. Calvin focuses on the fast as divine authentication of Moses’ role. The disagreement reflects a genuine ambiguity in the Hebrew, the verb vayyikhtov (“and he wrote”) lacks an explicit subject, so the reader must decide from context. What is not disputed: the words are God’s covenant, and the tablets become the foundation of Israel’s life with God.
How settled is the interpretation?
Interpretive difficulty: Medium
Main views:
- Moses wrote: Immediate context: v. 27 commands Moses to write, and v. 28's 'he' naturally refers to Moses as the subject of the preceding sentence.
- God wrote: Exodus 34:1 states 'I will write'; Exodus 31:18 and 32:16 describe tablets as God's own writing; Deuteronomy 10:2-4 attributes the writing to God.
- Source-critical adaptation: The Cambridge Bible suggests the verse originally referred to God but was later edited to refer to Moses when the chapter was harmonized with the first tablets narrative.
What is clear: The tablets contain the covenant words—the Ten Commandments—and the entire episode is a divinely orchestrated renewal of the covenant after human failure.
What Scholars Agree and Debate
| Topic | Agreed | Debated |
|---|---|---|
| Duration of Moses' fast | Forty days and forty nights without food or water was a supernatural event, not ascetic discipline. | Some traditions hold this was Moses' second period of forty days; others count a third period based on Exodus 32:30 and Deuteronomy 9:18. |
| Writer of the tablets | The words on the tablets are divine in origin and constitute the covenant. | Some read Moses as the writer (immediate context of v. 27, sequence in v. 28-29). Others insist God wrote (Ex 34:1, 31:18, 32:16). A source-critical view holds the original subject was God, later edited to refer to Moses. |
| Content of the covenant words | The phrase 'the ten commandments' refers to the fundamental stipulations of the covenant. | The Cambridge Bible suggests that in the original J source the 'ten words' may have been a shorter ritual decalogue (v. 11-26), while later editors identified them with the moral Decalogue of Exodus 20, following Deuteronomy. |
| Purpose of the forty days | The fast confirmed Moses' authority and demonstrated God's power. | Calvin emphasizes authentication of Moses' mission; Keil & Delitzsch link it to the restoration of the covenant. Some see intercessory purpose (Deut 9:18). |
Historical & Cultural Context
This verse sits at the climax of a covenant renewal. After Israel’s golden-calf rebellion (Exodus 32), Moses intercedes for the people, and God agrees to restore his covenant (Exodus 33, 34). In Exodus 34:1, 4, God commands Moses to cut two new stone tablets and promises to write on them “the words that were on the first tablets.” Moses obeys, climbs Mount Sinai alone, and remains there.
The forty-day period echoes Moses’ first ascent (Exodus 24:18). For ancient readers, forty days signaled a complete period of testing and transformation (compare the flood, Elijah’s journey, Jesus’ temptation). The fast itself had a clear function: as Calvin argued, it set Moses apart from ordinary human frailty and proved his commission was from heaven. No prophet or lawgiver in Israel attempted to repeat this fast, it was unique to Moses, Elijah, and Christ.
The phrase “the ten commandments” (literally “the ten words”) appears here for the first time in the Bible. The surrounding narrative (v. 27) records God saying to Moses, “Write these words; for in accordance with these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.” The immediate context would suggest Moses then wrote the words. But the prior promise in v. 1 (“I will write”) and the statements in Exodus 31:18 and 32:16 (the tablets are “the work of God” and “the writing of God”) pull in the other direction. The tension likely results from the way different traditions were woven together to present one unified story: the covenant is God’s, yet Moses’ obedient hand plays a role in its transmission.
Textual Notes
The supplied commentary excerpts note no significant textual variants for Exodus 34:28. The Masoretic Text is stable at this point, and the ancient versions (Septuagint, Vulgate, Targums) reflect the same Hebrew text. The interpretive difficulty lies in the ambiguous pronoun, not in textual uncertainty.
Reception History
Calvin read Moses’ fast as a unique, unrepeatable sign of divine commissioning, comparing it to Elijah’s fast (1 Kings 19) and Christ’s (Matthew 4:2). He used the verse to argue that the law’s mediator was supernaturally equipped so Israel would trust his message. The Apostle Paul later reflected on the glory of Moses’ face that followed this event (2 Corinthians 3:7, 18), interpreting it as a glory that fades, contrasted with the permanent glory of the new covenant in Christ. In later Christian tradition, the verse has been cited to affirm the divine authority of the Ten Commandments and, in some liturgical contexts, as a typological foreshadowing of Christ’s forty-day fasting and his role as mediator of a better covenant.
Preaching This Verse
Three-point outline
- The Forty Days of Renewal. The repeated forty-day period shows that restoration after failure takes time, patience, and divine presence. God does not rush the covenant renewal; He draws Moses into deep communion.
- The Supernatural Fast. Neither eating nor drinking for forty days is beyond human capacity. God sustains His servants for tasks He gives. This is not a model for asceticism but a sign of unique commissioning.
- The Writing of the Covenant. Whether God or Moses held the stylus, the words are divine. The covenant is written on stone and also written on the heart (Jeremiah 31:33). The tablets become a permanent witness to God’s faithfulness after human failure.
Five-point outline
- Moses alone with God. The verse speaks of being “with Yahweh” for forty days. Intimacy precedes delivery.
- Sustained by God. Moses neither ate nor drank. God provides what we cannot provide ourselves for the mission He gives.
- Writing the words. The content, the Ten Commandments, is the same covenant terms that were broken. God gives a second chance.
- The authority of the covenant. The tablets become the centerpiece of Israel’s legal and worship life.
- The transition to glory. Verse 29 follows with Moses’ shining face. The encounter leaves a visible mark.
Illustration hooks
- A marathon runner who finishes without water, not through willpower but because someone ensures hydration every mile. Moses was sustained by God’s direct power, not by his own resolve.
- A parent who, after a child breaks a signed family agreement, patiently rewrites the contract with the same terms. God renews the covenant even after Israel shatters it.
- An author dictated a book and then a scribe writes it. The words belong to the author; the scribe’s hand is the vessel. This verse may reflect a similar dynamic between God and Moses.
Questions your congregation is asking
- Why does it matter whether God or Moses wrote the commandments? The answer affects how we understand Scripture’s authority, directly divine or mediated through humans.
- Does the forty-day fast mean I should try to fast for longer periods? No, this was a unique, miraculous event. Ordinary fasting has different purposes and limits.
- What does covenant renewal look like after I have failed badly? The verse shows God making a way back, not because Israel deserved it, but because He is merciful.
Leading a Discussion
This small-group guide focuses on Exodus 34:28 as the turning point in Israel’s story after the golden calf. The central question, who wrote on the tablets, opens larger issues of how God uses human agents and how His covenant is restored after failure.
Discussion questions
- Read the verse aloud. What one detail stands out most to you?
- Why do you think Moses was able to go forty days without food or water? What does that tell you about his time with God?
- Based on the context (especially v. 1 and v. 27), who do you think “he wrote” refers to? What difference does it make?
- What is the significance of the phrase “the ten commandments” (literally “the ten words”) appearing here for the first time?
- How does this passage connect to the first giving of the law in Exodus 20 and 24? What is similar, and what is different?
- In what ways does this verse speak to God’s response when we break trust with Him?
- Second Corinthians 3:7-18 reflects on this event and the glory on Moses’ face. How does Paul use this verse to contrast the old covenant and the new?
Word Study
The key original-language words in this verse. Select any word for its full lexicon entry — meaning, every occurrence in Scripture, and related words.
Cross-References
Source: Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (TSK, public domain)
| Exodus 24:18 | Moses entered into the middle of the cloud, and went up on the mountain; and Moses was on the mountain forty days and forty nights. |
| Exodus 31:18 | When he finished speaking with him on Mount Sinai, he gave Moses the two tablets of the covenant, stone tablets, written with God’s finger. |
| Exodus 32:16 | The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets. |
| Exodus 34:1 | Yahweh said to Moses, “Chisel two stone tablets like the first. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. |
| Deuteronomy 4:13 | He declared to you his covenant, which he commanded you to perform, even the ten commandments. He wrote them on two stone tablets. |
| Deuteronomy 9:9 | When 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. |
| Deuteronomy 9:18 | I fell down before Yahweh, as at the first, forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water, because of all your sin which you sinned, in doing that which was evil in Yahweh’s sight, to provoke him to anger. |
| Deuteronomy 9:25 | So I fell down before Yahweh the forty days and forty nights that I fell down, because Yahweh had said he would destroy you. |
Interlinear and lexical data from STEPBible (CC BY 4.0). Cross-reference data from OpenBible.info (CC BY 4.0). Commentaries are public domain.
For personal reflection
Read the devotional page — prayer, application, and "for families"
What the Commentators Say
10 public-domain commentaries, condensed into plain language.
Adam Clarke's Commentary Methodist/Wesleyan 1826
Clarke directs the reader to his earlier note on a similar passage, implying that the same explanation applies here. He offers no new comment on this verse, instead pointing elsewhere for fuller understanding of the forty-day period.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible Protestant 1832
He wrote - i. e. Yahweh wrote Exo 34:1 .
Calvin's Commentaries Reformed 1564
Calvin insists that Moses' forty-day fast was not a model of abstinence for others to copy, but a unique miracle that gave him angel-like exemption from human weakness. This supernatural sign proved his divine commission, and no prophet except Elijah and Christ ever attempted it.
Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges Anglican 1880
The commentator argues that "the ten commandments" in this passage likely refers to the ritual commands of verses 11-26, not the moral Decalogue of Exodus 20. In the original source, these commands formed the basis of the covenant, whereas Exodus 20's Decalogue is never presented that way in Exodus itself.
Geneva Bible Notes Reformed 1599
So hee was there with the Lord fourtie dayes and fourtie nights, and did neither eat bread nor drinke water: and hee wrote in the Tables the wordes of the couenant, euen the tenne commandements.
Gill's Exposition of the Bible Baptist 1748
Gill distinguishes this forty-day period on the mountain as a separate, third stay, not a repeat of the earlier ones. He stresses that Moses ate and drank nothing, sustained only by God's miraculous power and overwhelming communion with Him. Gill also insists that God Himself, not Moses, engraved the Ten Commandments on the stone tablets.
Jamieson-Fausset-Brown Commentary Protestant 1871
JFB observes that Moses' forty-day fast on Sinai was sustained by God's miraculous power, just like the first occasion. A specific reason for this second prolonged fast is given in Deuteronomy 9:18, setting it apart from the earlier one.
Keil & Delitzsch OT Commentary Protestant 1876
Keil-Delitzsch see the radiance on Moses' face as a foresight and pledge of the glory God would eventually give to Israel as His treasured people. The glow proved Moses' intimate relationship with God and the glory of his office, while pointing beyond itself to the blessing the covenant held for the whole nation.
Lange's Commentary Reformed 1857
Lange reads this chapter as the high point of Mosaic revelation, where the law is placed entirely in the light of God's grace through the proclamation of His name as merciful, gracious, and long-suffering, yet also a punisher of sin. The covenant is not simply restored but modified, with pardon as its foundation and stricter provisions against idolatry. Moses' shining face, a reflection of divine glory passing through his soul, symbolizes this elevated revelation and the fearful distance between the mediator and the people.
Matthew Henry's Commentary Reformed/Presbyterian 1710
Henry highlights how Moses spent forty days and nights in uninterrupted, intimate communion with God, sustained without food or water. He contrasts this with our tendency to grow weary after only an hour or two of worship, urging us to remember Moses' example and the eternal day of praise we hope to share.