Discovery BoxExodus 24:4 
Context24:4 and Moses wrote down all the words of the Lord. Early in the morning he built 1 an altar at the foot 2 of the mountain and arranged 3 twelve standing stones 4 – according to the twelve tribes of Israel.
Exodus 34:28
Context34:28 So he was there with the Lord forty days and forty nights; 5 he did not eat bread, and he did not drink water. He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten commandments. 6
1 tn The two preterites quite likely form a verbal hendiadys (the verb “to get up early” is frequently in such constructions). Literally it says, “and he got up early [in the morning] and he built”; this means “early [in the morning] he built.” The first verb becomes the adverb.
2 tn “under.”
3 tn The verb “arranged” is not in the Hebrew text but has been supplied to clarify exactly what Moses did with the twelve stones.
4 tn The thing numbered is found in the singular when the number is plural – “twelve standing-stone.” See GKC 433 §134.f. The “standing-stone” could be a small piece about a foot high, or a huge column higher than men. They served to commemorate treaties (Gen 32), or visions (Gen 28) or boundaries, or graves. Here it will function with the altar as a place of worship.
5 tn These too are adverbial in relation to the main clause, telling how long Moses was with Yahweh on the mountain.
6 tn Heb “the ten words,” though “commandments” is traditional.
