Exodus 32:15
And Moses returned from the mount, carrying the two tables of the testimony in his hand, written on both sides,
Open Exodus 32:15 in the Motif Searcher, word by word across all five texts →Show on the spiral →The verse in its languages
- Vulgate (Clementine)
- Et reversus est Moyses de monte, portans duas tabulas testimonii in manu sua, scriptas ex utraque parte,
- Septuagint (Swete)
- Καὶ ἀποστρέψας Μωυσῆς κατέβη ἀπὸ τοῦ ὄρους· καὶ αἱ δύο πλάκες τοῦ μαρτυρίου ἐν ταῖς χερσὶν αὐτοῦ, πλάκες λίθιναι, καταγεγραμμέναι ἐξ ἀμφοτέρων τῶν μερῶν αὐτῶν, ἔνθεν καὶ ἔνθεν ἦσαν γεγραμμέναι·
- Hebrew (WLC)
- וַיִּ֜פֶן וַיֵּ֤רֶד מֹשֶׁה֙ מִן הָהָ֔ר וּשְׁנֵ֛י לֻחֹ֥ת הָעֵדֻ֖ת בְּיָד֑וֹ לֻחֹ֗ת כְּתֻבִים֙ מִשְּׁנֵ֣י עֶבְרֵיהֶ֔ם מִזֶּ֥ה וּמִזֶּ֖ה הֵ֥ם כְּתֻבִֽים
Haydock's commentary
Both sides. The ten commandments were written twice over, or on both sides, that all who stood round Moses, might be able to read them. (Menochius)
On one side, appeared the laws regarding God; on the other, those which relate to man. (Haydock)
They were like two originals. The common way of writing was only on one side. (Calmet)
From Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary, 1859, in the transcription made by Todd Easton and kept online by John Paul Wohlschied at johnblood.gitlab.io/haydock.
The Fathers on this verse
St Gregory Nazianzen On the Great Athanasius, Bishop of Alexandria
20. Thus he combined the two, and so united the partisans of both calm action and of active calm, as to convince them that the monastic life is characterised by steadfastness of disposition rather than by bodily retirement. Accordingly the great David was a man of at once the most active and most solitary life, if any one thinks the verse, I am in solitude, till I pass away, of value and authority in the exposition of this subject. Therefore, though they surpass all others in virtue, they fell further short of his mind than others fell short of their own, and while contributing little to the perfection of his priesthood, they gained in return greater assistance in contemplation. …