Exodus 32:15 (KJV)

What does Exodus 32:15 mean?

Exodus 32:15 shows Moses bringing down the written record of God’s instructions from the mountain. The two stone tablets are tangible objects in his hands, carrying writing on both sides as he returns to the people below.

The narrator describes Moses’ movement after God has responded to his plea for the people in verse 14. The repeated mention of the two sides draws attention to the tablets as written objects, just before the account describes their origin in verse 16.

The Hebrew behind Exodus 32:15

• “tables” — לֻחֹת (luḥot): The word means tablets or flat slabs. Here the KJV’s “tables” refers to objects for writing, not furniture; verse 16 identifies them as stone.
• “testimony” — עֵדֻת (ʿedut): The word can mean a witness or a record. The phrase “tables of the testimony” identifies the tablets as a written record of what God had given Moses.

Why Exodus 32:15 matters

• The writing covers more than one face of each tablet. The verse says the tablets were written “on both their sides,” so readers should not imagine writing only on the front.
• The tablets connect the scene on the mountain with the people’s camp below. Moses carries them down in his hand, and in verse 19 he sees the calf and the dancing and breaks them.
• The account gives special weight to the writing itself. Verse 16 says the writing was God’s writing, cut into the tablets.