The Command to Leave Sinai

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

⁴ And when the people heard this bad news, ^(H)they mourned, ^(I)and no one put on his ornaments. ⁵ For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you. Now therefore, take off your ^[c]ornaments, that I may ^(J)know what to do to you.’ ” ⁶ So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb.

Moses Meets with the Lord

⁷ Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and ^(K)called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who ^(L)sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. ⁸ So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood ^(M)at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. ⁹ And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord ^(N)talked with Moses. ¹⁰ All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and ^(O)worshiped, each man in his tent door. ¹¹ So ^(P)the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but ^(Q)his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.

^4 [a]Adulterers and adulteresses! Do you not know that ^(A)friendship with the world is enmity with God? ^(B)Whoever therefore wants to be a friend of the world makes himself an enemy of God. ⁵ Or do you think that the Scripture says in vain, ^(C)“The Spirit who dwells in us yearns jealously”?

⁶ But He gives more grace. Therefore He says:

Humility Cures Worldliness

⁷ Therefore submit to God. ^(E)Resist the devil and he will flee from you. ^8 (F)Draw near to God and He will draw near to you. ^(G)Cleanse your hands, you sinners; and ^(H)purify your hearts, you double-minded. ^9 (I)Lament and mourn and weep! Let your laughter be turned to mourning and your joy to gloom. ^10 (J)Humble yourselves in the sight of the Lord, and He will lift you up.

Love and Joy Perfected

⁹ “As the Father ^(A)loved Me, I also have loved you; abide in My love. ^10 (B)If you keep My commandments, you will abide in My love, just as I have kept My Father’s commandments and abide in His love.

¹¹ “These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may remain in you, and ^(C)that your joy may be full. ^12 (D)This is My ^(E)commandment, that you love one another as I have loved you. ^13 (F)Greater love has no one than this, than to lay down one’s life for his friends. ^14 (G)You are My friends if you do whatever I command you. ¹⁵ No longer do I call you servants, for a servant does not know what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, ^(H)for all things that I heard from My Father I have made known to you.