And Moses wrote all the words of the LORD means that he “wrote down everything the LORD had said” (New International Version). The words were probably “all the LORD’s commands” (Good News Translation) that Moses had just recounted for the people, both “words” and “ordinances.” (See the comment at verse 3.) There is no clue as to what writing material he may have used.

And he rose early in the morning probably means “Early the next morning” (Good News Translation). And built an altar uses the general word to build, and the word for altar literally means “place of sacrifice.” It was probably a crude altar made of earth and stone, and in some languages it will be necessary to indicate the building materials. New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh has “he set up an altar.” At the foot of the mountain is literally “under the mountain,” but this refers to the “base” (Durham), or the place where the mountain begins to rise.

And twelve pillars depends on the one verb built, but it is more accurate to say that he “set up twelve stones” (Good News Translation). The word for pillars, which is also used in 23.24, refers to large stones that were made to stand in a vertical position. New Jerusalem Bible calls them “standing-stones,” and Revised English Bible has “sacred pillars.” But they did not represent any gods, as they did for other nations. Instead they represented the people in the covenant ceremony. According to the twelve tribes of Israel means, as Good News Translation expresses it, that there was “one for each of the twelve tribes.” (See the comment on “tribes” at 2.1.)

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .