Bible Strands
Exodus 31:18
When the LORD had finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave him the two tablets of the Testimony, tablets of stone inscribed by the finger of God.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — The text states that after the LORD finished speaking with Moses on Mount Sinai, He gave the two stone tablets to Moses. This transfer occurs at the precise conclusion of divine instruction on the mountain.
The words — The Hebrew verb וַ/יִּתֵּ֣ן (va/i.yi.Ten) carries the literal sense "and he gave," marking the physical handover. The temporal phrase בְּ/כַלֹּת/וֹ֙ (be./kha.lo.T/o) denotes the exact moment when God's speech concluded.
The thread — The delivery of these tablets appears in Exodus 32:15 when Moses descends the mountain, and connects to Deuteronomy 4:13 and Deuteronomy 5:22 regarding the writing of the commandments.
Why it lands — The text states the tablets were inscribed by the finger of God and contained the Testimony. This requires the reader to acknowledge the divine origin of the law and submit to its written instruction.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he gave unto Moses, when he had made an end of communing with him upon mount Sinai, two tables of testimony, tables of stone, written with the finger of God.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 4:13 He declared to you His covenant, which He commanded you to follow—the Ten Commandments that He wrote on two tablets of stone.
- Exodus 32:15 Then Moses turned and went down the mountain with the two tablets of the Testimony in his hands. They were inscribed on both sides, front and back.
- Deuteronomy 5:22 The LORD spoke these commandments in a loud voice to your whole assembly out of the fire, the cloud, and the deep darkness on the mountain; He added nothing more. And He wrote them on two tablets of stone and gave them to me.
- Exodus 24:12 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Come up to Me on the mountain and stay here, so that I may give you the tablets of stone, with the law and commandments I have written for their instruction.”
- Exodus 8:19 “This is the finger of God,” the magicians said to Pharaoh. But Pharaoh’s heart was hardened, and he would not listen to them, just as the LORD had said.
- 2 Corinthians 3:3 It is clear that you are a letter from Christ, the result of our ministry, written not with ink but with the Spirit of the living God, not on tablets of stone but on tablets of human hearts.
- Exodus 34:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Chisel out two stone tablets like the originals, and I will write on them the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke.
- Exodus 34:28 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.
- Deuteronomy 9:9 When I went up on the mountain to receive the tablets of stone, the tablets of the covenant that the LORD made with you, I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I ate no bread and drank no water.
- Luke 11:20 But if I drive out demons by the finger of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.