Tablets

Breaking the first tablets

After seeing that the Israelites had gone astray during his absence and his brother Aaron had made the Golden Calf, Moses broke the tablets (Exodus 32:19).

Second set of Tablets

God subsequently commanded Moses to carve two other tablets like the first (Exodus 34:1). In Exodus 34:27-28 Moses was commanded to recreate the tablets, and to rewrite the commandments himself. In Deuteronomy 4:13, 5:18, 9:10, God himself appears as the writer.

This second set, brought down from Mount Sinai by Moses (Exodus 34:29), was placed in the Ark, also known as the Ark of the Covenant (Exodus 25:16, 25:21, 40:20), hence designated as the "Ark of the Testimony" (Exodus 22:16, Numbers 4:5; compare also 1 Kings 8:9).

Various theories have been advanced as to why the text in Deuteronomy differs on some points with the text in Exodus (see below).