Exodus 33

1Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Go up from here, you and the people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land that I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’”

2And I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

3to a land flowing with milk and honey. For I will not go up in your midst, because you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way.

4When the people heard this bad news, they mourned, and no man put on his ornaments.

5And Yahweh said to Moses, “Say to the sons of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. In a single moment, if I were to go up in your midst, I would consume you. So now, take off your ornaments from upon you, and I will know what I should do with you.’”

6So the sons of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb onward.

7Moses would take the tent and pitch it for himself outside the camp, far from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone seeking Yahweh would go out to the tent of meeting that was outside the camp.

8And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand, each man at the entrance of his tent, and they would watch after Moses until he entered the tent.

9And whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and he would speak with Moses.

10When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people rose and worshiped, each man at the entrance of his tent.

11And Yahweh would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Then he would return to the camp, but his attendant Joshua son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the midst of the tent.

12Then Moses said to Yahweh, “See, you are saying to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but you have not made known to me whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you also have found favor in my sight.’”

13Now therefore, if I have found favor in your eyes, please make your ways known to me, so that I may know you, in order that I may find favor in your eyes. And consider that this nation is your people.

14And he said, “My presence will go, and I will give you rest.”

15Then he said to him, “If your presence does not go, do not bring us up from here.”

16For how then will it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not by your going with us, so that I and your people are distinguished from every people who are on the face of the earth?

17And Yahweh said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have spoken, because you have found favor in my eyes, and I know you by name.”

18Then he said, “Please show me your glory.”

19And he said, “I myself will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy to whom I will show mercy.”

20But he said, “You cannot see my face, for man shall not see me and live.”

21And the LORD said, “Look, there is a place by me, and you shall stand on the rock.”

22And when my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by.

23Then I will remove my hand, and you will see my back, but my face shall not be seen.