Forty days and nights Moses remained in the mount; and during all this time, as at the first, he was miraculously sustained. No man had been permitted to go up with him, nor during the time of his absence were any to approach the mount. At God's command he had prepared two tables of stone, and had taken them with him to the summit; and again the Lord "wrote upon the tables the words of the covenant, the Ten Commandments." [* SEE APPENDIX, NOTE 5.]

Moses blev på bjerget i fyrre døgn, og i hele denne tid opretholdt han livet ved et mirakel ligesom første gang. Intet menneske havde fået lov at gå med ham, og så længe han var borte, måtte ingen nærme sig bjerget. På Guds befaling havde han lavet to stentavler og taget dem med sig til bjergets top, og igen skrev Herren "pagtsordene, de ti ord, på tavlerne".