And the tables were the work of God continues to describe the “the tablets” (Good News Translation). Were the work of God is literally “a doing of ʾelohim they.” The use of ʾelohim rather than Yahweh should not be understood as a different God. In the present context the work of God contrasts sharply with the gold bull-calf, which was the work of men.

And the writing was the writing of God uses a different form of the same word for “written” (verse 15), which here may be understood as “inscriptions” (New American Bible). This is supported by the final clause, graven upon the tables, which uses a word for graven that is found only here in the entire Hebrew Bible. The context clarifies that it means “engraved” (Good News Translation), “incised” (New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh), or “cut into.” In languages that do not use the passive voice, it will be helpful to combine verses 15 and 16 and so avoid the passives in verse 15:

• Moses came back down the mountain carrying the two stone tablets [or, flat stones] on which God had written [or, engraved] his laws with his own hand. He had written these on both sides of the stones.

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 .