Exodus 33 (English Standard Version)

Exodus 33

The Command to Leave Sinai

 ¹The LORD said to Moses, "Depart; go up from here, you^(A) and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, 'To^(B) your offspring I will give it.' ²I will send an^(C) angel before you,^(D) and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. ^3(E) Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey;^(F) but I will not go up among you,^(G) lest I consume you on the way, for you are a^(H) stiff-necked people."

 ⁴When the people heard this disastrous word, they^(I) mourned, and^(J) no one put on his ornaments. ⁵For the LORD had said to Moses, "Say to the people of Israel, 'You are a^(K) stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would^(L) consume you. So now^(M) take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.'" ⁶Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.

The Tent of Meeting

 ⁷Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and^(N) he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who^(O) sought the LORD would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. ⁸Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and^(P) each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. ⁹When Moses entered the tent, the^(Q) pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the LORD^[a] would speak with Moses. ¹⁰And when all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise up and worship, each at his tent door. ¹¹Thus^(R) the LORD used to speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses turned again into the camp, his^(S) assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

Moses’ Intercession

 ¹²Moses said to the LORD, "See,^(T) you say to me, 'Bring up this people,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said,^(U) 'I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.' ¹³Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please^(V) show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is^(W) your people." ¹⁴And he said,^(X) "My presence will go with you, and^(Y) I will give you rest." ¹⁵And he said to him,^(Z) "If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. ¹⁶For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people?^(AA) Is it not in your going with us,^(AB) so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?"

 ¹⁷And the LORD said to Moses, "This very thing that you have spoken I will do,^(AC) for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name." ¹⁸Moses said, "Please^(AD) show me your glory." ¹⁹And he said,^(AE) "I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name 'The LORD.' And^(AF) I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. ²⁰But," he said, "you cannot see my face, for^(AG) man shall not see me and live." ²¹And the LORD said, "Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, ²²and while my glory passes by I will put you in a^(AH) cleft of the rock, and I will^(AI) cover you with my hand until I have passed by. ²³Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall^(AJ) not be seen."