Exodus 32:15

Moses

¹³ Remember Your servants Abraham, Isaac, and Israel, to whom You swore by Your very self when You declared, ‘I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give your descendants all this land that I have promised, and it shall be their inheritance forever.’”

¹⁴ So the LORD relented from the calamity He had threatened to bring on His people.

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.

¹⁶ The tablets were the work of God, and the writing was the writing of God, engraved on the tablets.

¹⁷ When Joshua heard the sound of the people shouting, he said to Moses, “The sound of war is in the camp.”

Here the Bible tells a story about someone else. Ask yourself what it can say to us today. Do read the surrounding verses too, because the context often says more than a single verse.

Compare

BSB: 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.
KJV: And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, and the two tables of the testimony were in his hand: the tables were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
WEB: Moses turned, and went down from the mountain, with the two tablets of the covenant in his hand; tablets that were written on both their sides. They were written on one side and on the other.
ASV: And Moses turned, and went down from the mount, with the two tables of the testimony in his hand; tables that were written on both their sides; on the one side and on the other were they written.
DARBY: And Moses turned and went down from the mountain, [with] the two tables of the testimony in his hand tables written on both their sides: on this side and on that were they written.
BLB: And Moses turned, and he went down from the mountain, and the two tablets of the Testimony [were] in his hand. The tablets [were] written on their two sides—on this and on that they were written.

ÅB: Og Moses vendte seg og gikk ned fra fjellet med vitnesbyrdets to tavler i sin hånd, og på begge sider av tavlene var der skrevet; både på forsiden og baksiden var der skrevet.
OTB: Moses vendte om og gikk ned fra fjellet med de to tavlene med vitnesbyrdet i hendene. De var skrevet på begge sider, foran og bak.
B1930: Og Moses vendte sig og gikk ned fra fjellet med vidnesbyrdets to tavler i sin hånd, og på begge sider av tavlene var der skrevet; både på forsiden og baksiden var der skrevet.

Study notes (Tyndale)

Original text and word study

Cross references

Deuteronomy 9:15
So I went back down the mountain while it was blazing with fire, with the two tablets of the covenant in my hands.
Read in context
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.
Read in context
Exodus 40:20
Moses took the Testimony and placed it in the ark, attaching the poles to the ark; and he set the mercy seat atop the ark.
Read in context
Exodus 24:18
Moses entered the cloud as he went up on the mountain, and he remained on the mountain forty days and forty nights.
Read in context
Psalms 19:7
The Law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy, making wise the simple.
Read in context
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.
Read in context
Exodus 16:34
And Aaron placed it in front of the Testimony, to be preserved just as the LORD had commanded Moses.
Read in context
Revelation 5:1
Then I saw a scroll in the right hand of the One seated on the throne. It had writing on both sides and was sealed with seven seals.
Read in context