1. “The Lord said to me at that time, ‘Cut two stone tablets like the first ones and come to Me on the mountain and make a wooden ark.
2. I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets you broke, and you are to place them in the ark.’
3. So I made an ark of acacia wood, cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and climbed the mountain with the two tablets in my hand.
4. Then on the day of the assembly, the Lord wrote on the tablets what had been written previously, the Ten Commandments that He had spoken to you on the mountain from the fire. The Lord gave them to me,
5. and I went back down the mountain and placed the tablets in the ark I had made. And they have remained there, as the Lord commanded me.”
6. The Israelites traveled from Beeroth Bene-jaakan to Moserah. Aaron died and was buried there, and Eleazar his son became priest in his place.
7. They traveled from there to Gudgodah, and from Gudgodah to Jotbathah, a land with streams of water.
8. “At that time the Lord set apart the tribe of Levi to carry the ark of the Lord’s covenant, to stand before Yahweh to serve Him, and to pronounce blessings in His name, as it is today.
9. For this reason, Levi does not have a portion or inheritance like his brothers; the Lord is his inheritance, as the Lord your God told him.
10. “I stayed on the mountain 40 days and 40 nights like the first time. The Lord also listened to me on this occasion; He agreed not to annihilate you.
11. Then the Lord said to me, ‘Get up. Continue your journey ahead of the people, so that they may enter and possess the land I swore to give their fathers.’