The New Stone Tablets
1 At that time the LORD spoke to me. He said, "Carve out two stone tablets, just like the first ones. Then come up to me on the mountain. Also make a wooden chest.
2
I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. Then you must put the tablets in the chest."
3
So I made the ark out of acacia wood. I carved out two stone tablets that were just like the first ones. I went up the mountain. I carried the two tablets in my hands.
4
The LORD wrote on the tablets what he had written before. It was the Ten Commandments. He had announced them to you out of the fire on the mountain. It was on the day you had gathered together there. So the LORD gave the tablets to me.
5
Then I came back down the mountain. I put the tablets in the ark I had made, just as the LORD had commanded me. And that's where they are now.
6
Remember how the people of Israel traveled from the wells of Bene Jaakan to Moserah. That's where Aaron died. And his body was buried there. His son Eleazar became the next priest after him.
7
From Moserah the people traveled to Gudgodah. Then they went on to Jotbathah. That land has streams of water.
8
At that time the LORD set the tribe of Levi apart. He appointed them to carry the ark of the covenant of the Lord. He wanted them to serve him. He told them to bless the people in his name. And they still do it today.
9
That's why the Levites don't have any part of the land the LORD gave the other tribes in Israel. They don't have any share among them. The LORD himself is their share. That's what the LORD your God told them.
10
I had stayed on the mountain for 40 days and nights, just as I did the first time. The LORD listened to me that time also. He didn't want to destroy you.
11
"Go," the LORD said to me. "Lead the people on their way. Then they can enter the land and take it over. I have taken an oath. I promised I would give the land to their fathers. I promised it to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob."