(1) The LORD said to Moses: “Carve two tablets of stone like the first, and I will inscribe upon the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you shattered.

(2) Be ready by morning, and in the morning come up to Mount Sinai and present yourself there to Me, on the top of the mountain.

(3) No one else shall come up with you, and no one else shall be seen anywhere on the mountain; neither shall the flocks and the herds graze at the foot of this mountain.”

(4) So Moses carved two tablets of stone, like the first, and early in the morning he went up on Mount Sinai, as the LORD had commanded him, taking the two stone tablets with him.

(5) The LORD came down in a cloud; He stood with him there, and proclaimed the name LORD.

(6) The LORD passed before him and proclaimed: “The LORD! the LORD! a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness,

(7) extending kindness to the thousandth generation, forgiving iniquity, transgression, and sin; yet He does not remit all punishment, but visits the iniquity of parents upon children and children’s children, upon the third and fourth generations.”

(1) ויקרא בשם ה׳ AND HE CALLED BY NAME, O LORD — We render this in the Targum [translation] by, 'ויקרא בשמא דה and he (Moses) called on the name of the Lord.

(1) ה׳ ה׳ THE LORD, THE LORD — This is the attribute of Divine mercy. The one (the first ה׳) alludes to God having mercy on the sinner before he sins and the other after he has sinned and repented (Rosh Hashanah 17b).

(2) אל GOD — This is also an attribute of Divine mercy (it is not, as אלהים "Elohim", an attribute of stern justice). Thus also does Scripture say, (Psalms 22:2) “My God, my God (אלי ,אלי) why hast Thou forsaken me?” — for surely one would not say to the attribute of stern Justice “why hast Thou forsaken me?”! Thus have I found in the Mechilta d'Rabbi Yishmael 15:2:2.

(3) ארך אפים SLOW TO ANGER — He defers (מאריך) His anger and does not hasten to punish — it may be that the sinner will repent.

(4) ורב חסד AND ABUNDANT IN MERCY — to those who need mercy because they have not sufficient merits to be saved by them.

(5) ואמת AND TRUTH — faithfully rewarding those who perform His will.

(1) נצר חסד EXTENDING KINDNESS -- means God keeps (stores up) the mercy which a person does in His presence,

(2) לאלפים TO THOUSANDS — to two thousand generations (the plural, “generations”, and “two” is the least that this can imply; cf. Rashi on Exodus 20:6).

(3) עונות INIQUITY — These are sins committed presumptuously (with premeditation).

פשעים TRANSGRESSION — These are sins committed rebelliously.

(4) ונקה לא ינקה AND WHO WILL BY NO MEANS CLEAR THE GUILTY — According to its plain sense this means that He is not altogether indulgent to sin (He does not entirely remit the punishment), but little by little exacts punishment from, him (the sinner). Our Rabbis, however, have explained: ונקה, And he clears — He clears those who repent, לא ינקה, He does not clear — but does not clear those who will not repent (Yoma 86a).

(5) פקד עון אבות על בנים VISITING THE INIQUITY OF THE FATHERS UPON THE CHILDREN — when they retain in their hands (follow the example of) the evil doings of their ancestors. This must be the meaning because in another verse of a similar character it has already been stated: "of them that hate Me" (cf. Exodus 20:5: "Visiting the iniquity of fathers upon the children, upon the third and fourth generation of them that hate Me" (Berakhot 7a; Sanhedrin 27b).

(6) ועל רבעים means AND UPON THE FOURTH GENERATION — It follows, therefore, that the measure of good (reward) is greater than the measure of punishment in the proportion of one to five hundred, for in respect to the measure of good it says: “Keeping mercy for thousands” (two thousands at least) (cf. Rashi above: Tosefta Sotah 4:1; see also Rashi on Exodus 20:5).

§ The verse states: “And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed” (Exodus 34:6). Rabbi Yoḥanan said: Were it not explicitly written in the verse, it would be impossible to say this, as it would be insulting to God’s honor. The verse teaches that the Holy One, Blessed be He, wrapped Himself in a prayer shawl like a prayer leader and showed Moses the structure of the order of the prayer. He said to him: Whenever the Jewish people sin, let them act before Me in accordance with this order. Let the prayer leader wrap himself in a prayer shawl and publicly recite the thirteen attributes of mercy, and I will forgive them.

(Devarim 11:22) "to walk in His ways": Which are the ways of the Holy One Blessed be He? (Shemoth 34:6-7) "The L-rd, the L-rd, G-d of mercy and grace, slow to wrath and abundant in mercy and truth, keeping lovingkindness for thousands, forgiving transgression, offense, and sin, and cleansing …" And it is written (Yoel 3:5) "All who will be called by the name of the L-rd will escape": Now how is it possible for a man to be called by the name of the Holy One Blessed be He? But, (the intent is) just as the L-rd is called "merciful and gracious," you, too, be merciful and gracious, and give gratuitously to all. Just as the Holy One Blessed be He is called "righteous," viz. (Psalms 145:17) "Righteous is the L-rd in all His ways and saintly in all His acts" — you, too, be righteous. Just as the Holy One Blessed be He is called "saintly," — you, too, be saintly. This is the intent of "All who will be called by the name of the L-rd will escape." And it is written (Isaiah 43:7) "… everyone that is called by My name. For My honor I have created him, and formed him, and fashioned him." And it is written (Proverbs 16:4) "The L-rd has created all for His sake." (Devarim, Ibid.)

Along the same lines, Rabbi Yoḥanan said in the name of Rabbi Yosei: From where is it derived that the Holy One, Blessed be He, prays? As it is stated: “I will bring them to My holy mountain, and make them joyful in the house of My prayer” (Isaiah 56:7). The verse does not say the house of their prayer, but rather, “the house of My prayer”; from here we see that the Holy One, Blessed be He, prays.

The Gemara asks: What does God pray?

Rav Zutra bar Tovia said that Rav said:
God says: May it be My will that My mercy will overcome My anger towards Israel for their transgressions,
and may My mercy prevail over My other attributes through which Israel is punished,
and may I conduct myself toward My children, Israel, with the attribute of mercy,
and may I enter before them beyond the letter of the law.

Similarly, it was taught in a baraita [additional oral teaching] that Rabbi Yishmael ben Elisha, the High Priest, said: Once, on Yom Kippur, I entered the innermost sanctum, the Holy of Holies, to offer incense, and in a vision I saw Akatriel Ya, the Lord of Hosts, one of the names of God expressing His ultimate authority, seated upon a high and exalted throne (see Isaiah 6).
And He said to me: Yishmael, My son, bless Me.
I said to Him the prayer that God prays: “May it be Your will that Your mercy overcome Your anger,
and may Your mercy prevail over Your other attributes,
and may You act toward Your children with the attribute of mercy,
and may You enter before them beyond the letter of the law.”
The Holy One, Blessed be He, nodded His head and accepted the blessing. This event teaches us that you should not take the blessing of an ordinary person lightly. If God asked for and accepted a man’s blessing, all the more so that a man must value the blessing of another man.