10:4 wrote on the tables. See notes for Exodus 31:17; Deuteronomy 4:13; and Deuteronomy 9:10. Note also that the second writing was the same as the first. God’s Word does not change.

10:4 according to the first writing. When God made the first “copy” of the Scriptures, He laid down the principle for all future copies. In so far as humanly possible, copies should be meticulously accurate “according to the first writing.” The later Jewish scribes and copyists labored diligently to conform to this principle. See also the note on Jeremiah 36:2.