Exodus 33-34

New American Standard Bible

The Journey Resumed

33 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which ^(A)I swore to Abraham, ^(B)Isaac, and ^(C)Jacob, saying, ‘^(D)To your ^[a]descendants I will give it.’ ² And I will send ^(E)an angel before you and ^(F)I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ³ Go up to a land ^(G)flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are ^[b](H)an obstinate people, and ^(I)I might destroy you on the way.”

⁴ When the people heard this ^[c]sad word, ^(J)they went into mourning, and none of them put on his jewelry. ⁵ For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the sons of Israel, ‘You are ^[d](K)an obstinate people; if I ^[e]were to go up in your midst for just one moment, I would destroy you. So now, take off your ^[f]jewelry that I may know what I shall do to you.’” ⁶ So the sons of Israel stripped themselves of their jewelry, from Mount Horeb onward.

⁷ Now Moses used to take ^(L)the tent and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And ^(M)everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp. ⁸ And it came about, whenever Moses went out to the tent, that all the people would arise and stand, each at the entrance of his tent, and gaze after Moses until he entered the tent. ⁹ Whenever Moses entered the tent, ^(N)the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent; ^(O)and ^[g]the Lord would speak with Moses. ¹⁰ When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would stand and worship, each at the entrance of his tent. ¹¹ So ^(P)the Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When ^[h]Moses returned to the camp, ^(Q)his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

Moses Intercedes

¹² Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, You say to me, ‘^(R)Bring up this people!’ But You Yourself have not let me know ^(S)whom You will send with me. ^(T)Moreover, You have said, ‘I have known you by name, and you have also found favor in My sight.’ ¹³ Now then, if I have found favor in Your sight in any way, please ^(U)let me know Your ways so that I may know You, in order that I may find favor in Your sight. ^(V)Consider too, that this nation is Your people.” ¹⁴ And He said, “^(W)My presence shall go with you, and ^(X)I will give you rest.” ¹⁵ Then he said to Him, “^(Y)If Your presence does not go with us, do not lead us up from here. ¹⁶ For how then can 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 ^(Z)we, I and Your people, may be distinguished from all the other people who are on the face of the ^[i]earth?”

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, “I will also do this thing of which you have spoken; ^(AA)for you have found favor in My sight and I have known you by name.” ^18 (AB)Then Moses said, “Please, show me Your glory!” ¹⁹ And He said, “^(AC)I Myself will make all My goodness pass before you, and will proclaim the name of the Lord before you; and ^(AD)I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show compassion to whom I will show compassion.” ²⁰ He further said, “You cannot see My face, ^(AE)for mankind shall not see Me and live!” ²¹ Then the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place ^[j]by Me, and ^(AF)you shall stand there on the rock; ²² and it will come about, while My glory is passing by, that I will put you in the cleft of the rock and ^(AG)cover you with My hand until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take My hand away and you shall see My back, but ^(AH)My face shall not be seen.”

The Two Tablets Replaced

34 Now the Lord said to Moses, “Cut out for yourself ^(AI)two stone tablets like the former ones, and ^(AJ)I will write on the tablets the words that were on the former tablets which you smashed. ² So be ready by morning, and come up in the morning to ^(AK)Mount Sinai, and ^[k]present yourself there to Me on the top of the mountain. ³ And ^(AL)no one is to come up with you, nor let anyone be seen ^[l]anywhere on the mountain; even the flocks and the herds are not to graze in front of that mountain.” ⁴ So he cut out ^(AM)two stone tablets like the former ones, and Moses got up early in the morning and went up to Mount Sinai, as the Lord had commanded him, and he took the two stone tablets in his hand. ⁵ And ^(AN)the Lord descended in the cloud and stood there with him as he ^[m]called upon the name of the Lord. ⁶ Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, ^(AO)compassionate and merciful, slow to anger, and abounding in faithfulness and ^[n]truth; ⁷ who ^(AP)keeps faithfulness for thousands, who forgives wrongdoing, violation of His Law, and sin; yet He ^(AQ)will by no means leave the guilty unpunished, ^(AR)inflicting the ^[o]punishment of fathers on the children and on the grandchildren to the third and fourth generations.” ⁸ And Moses hurried ^[p](AS)to bow low toward the ground and worship. ⁹ Then he said, “^(AT)If in any way I have found favor in Your sight, Lord, please may the Lord go along in our midst, even though ^[q](AU)the people are so obstinate, and ^(AV)pardon our wrongdoing and our sin, and ^(AW)take us as Your own ^[r]possession.”

The Covenant Renewed

¹⁰ Then ^[s]God said, “Behold, ^(AX)I am going to make a covenant. Before all your people ^(AY)I will perform miracles which have not been ^[t]produced in all the earth nor among any of the nations; and all the people ^[u]among whom you live will see the working of the Lord, for it is a fearful thing that I am going to perform with you.

¹¹ “^[v]Be sure to comply with what I am commanding you this day: behold, ^(AZ)I am going to drive out the Amorite from you, and the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. ^12 (BA)Be careful that you do not make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land into which you are going, or it will become a snare in your midst. ^13 (BB)But rather, you are to tear down their altars and smash their memorial stones, and cut down their ^[w](BC)Asherim ¹⁴ —for ^(BD)you shall not worship any other god, because the Lord, whose name is Jealous, is a jealous God— ¹⁵ otherwise you might make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they would prostitute themselves with their gods and ^(BE)sacrifice to their gods, and someone ^(BF)might invite you ^[x]to eat of his sacrifice, ¹⁶ and ^(BG)you might take some of his daughters for your sons, and his daughters might prostitute themselves with their gods and cause your sons also to prostitute themselves with their gods. ^17 (BH)You shall not make for yourself any gods cast in metal.

¹⁸ “You shall keep ^(BI)the Feast of Unleavened Bread. For ^(BJ)seven days you are to eat unleavened bread, ^[y]as I commanded you, at the appointed time in the ^(BK)month of Abib; for in the month of Abib you came out of Egypt.

¹⁹ “^(BL)The ^[z]firstborn from every womb belongs to Me, and all your male livestock, the ^[aa]firstborn from ^[ab]cattle and sheep. ^20 (BM)You shall redeem with a lamb the firstborn from a donkey; and if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck. You shall redeem ^(BN)all the firstborn of your sons. ^[ac](BO)None are to appear before Me empty-handed.

²¹ “You shall work ^(BP)six days, but on the seventh day you shall rest; even during plowing time and harvest you shall rest. ²² And you shall celebrate ^(BQ)the Feast of Weeks, that is, the first fruits of the wheat harvest, and the Feast of Ingathering at the turn of the year. ^23 (BR)Three times a year all your males are to appear before the Lord ^[ad]God, the God of Israel. ²⁴ For I will ^[ae](BS)drive out nations from you and enlarge your borders, and no one will covet your land when you go up three times a year to appear before the Lord your God.

²⁵ “^(BT)You shall not ^[af]offer the blood of My sacrifice with leavened bread, ^(BU)nor is the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover to ^[ag]be left over until morning.

²⁶ “You shall bring ^(BV)the very first of the first fruits of your soil into the house of the Lord your God.

“You shall not boil a young goat in its mother’s milk.”

²⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, “^(BW)Write ^[ah]down these words, for in accordance with these words I have made ^(BX)a covenant with you and with Israel.” ²⁸ So he was there with the Lord for ^(BY)forty days and forty nights; he did not eat bread or drink water. And ^[ai](BZ)He wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, ^(CA)the Ten ^[aj]Commandments.

Moses’ Face Shines

²⁹ And it came about, when Moses was coming down from Mount Sinai (and the ^(CB)two tablets of the testimony were in Moses’ hand as he was coming down from the mountain), that Moses did not know that ^(CC)the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with Him. ³⁰ So when Aaron and all the sons of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone, and ^(CD)they were afraid to approach him. ³¹ Then Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the rulers in the congregation returned to him; and Moses spoke to them. ³² Afterward all the sons of Israel came near, and he commanded them to do everything that the Lord had spoken ^[ak]to him on Mount Sinai. ³³ When Moses had finished speaking with them, ^(CE)he put a veil over his face. ³⁴ But whenever Moses went in before the Lord to speak with Him, ^(CF)he would take off the veil until he came out; and whenever he came out and spoke to the sons of Israel what he had been commanded, ^35 (CG)the sons of Israel would see the face of Moses, that the skin of Moses’ face shone. So Moses would put the veil back over his face until he went in to speak with Him.