Exodus 34:5

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

Exodus 34:5 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 34:5

And the Lord descended in the cloud
The same with the cloudy pillar, which was now gone up from the door of the tabernacle, and was on high in the air over the mount, and on which the Lord now descended in it, as he had before, ( Exodus 19:9 Exodus 19:16 Exodus 19:18 ) :

and stood with him there;
not Moses stood with the Lord, as the Vulgate Latin version; but the Lord, or the cloud in which the Lord was, stood near to Moses:

and proclaimed the name of the Lord:
Jehovah declared with a loud voice out of the cloud, that the Lord was there; the Targum of Jonathan is,

``and Moses called on or in the name of the Word of the Lord;''

and so the Vulgate Latin version refers it to Moses, and renders the words, "calling on the name of the Lord"; but the following verse clearly shows that it must be understood of the Lord, and not of Moses.

Exodus 34:5 In-Context

3 And no one will go up with you, and neither let anyone be seen on all the mountain, nor let the sheep and goats and the cattle graze {opposite} that mountain."

4 And Moses cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and he started early in the morning, and he went up to Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him, and he took in his hand the two stone tablets.

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

6 And Yahweh passed over before him, and he proclaimed, "Yahweh, Yahweh, God, [who is] compassionate and gracious, {slow to anger}, and abounding with loyal love and faithfulness,

7 keeping loyal love to the thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and he does not leave utterly unpunished, punishing [the] guilt of fathers on sons and on sons of sons on third and fourth [generations]."