Exodus 33  English Standard Version

The Command to Leave Sinai

33 The 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.’ ² I 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.”

⁴ When the people heard this disastrous word, they ^(I)mourned, and ^(J)no one put on his ornaments. ⁵ For 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.’” ⁶ Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.

The Tent of Meeting

⁷ Now 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. ⁸ Whenever 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. ⁹ When 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. ¹⁰ And 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. ¹¹ Thus ^(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

¹² Moses 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.’ ¹³ Now 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.” ¹⁴ And he said, ^(X)“My presence will go with you, and ^(Y)I will give you rest.” ¹⁵ And he said to him, ^(Z)“If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. ¹⁶ For 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?”

¹⁷ And 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.” ¹⁸ Moses said, “Please ^(AD)show me your glory.” ¹⁹ And 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. ²⁰ But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for ^(AG)man shall not see me and live.” ²¹ And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, ²² and 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. ²³ Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall ^(AJ)not be seen.”