Exodus 33-34

EasyEnglish Bible

33 Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘You must now leave here with the people that you brought out of Egypt. You must take them to the land that I promised to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. I made a serious promise to them that I would give the land to their descendants. ² I will send an angel to lead you. I will chase the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites out of the land. ³ You will go to that land where there is plenty of food and drink, enough for everyone. But I will not travel with you. You are proud people who refuse to obey me. If I go with you, I might destroy you as you travel.’

⁴ The Israelites heard God's strong words. His message made them very upset. They stopped wearing their jewels, to show that they were sad. ⁵ The Lord had said to Moses, ‘Tell the Israelites, “You are proud people who refuse to obey me. If I go with you, even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now remove your jewels. Then I will decide what I should do with you.” ’

⁶ So the Israelites no longer wore their jewels after they left Sinai mountain.

The special tent

⁷ As they travelled, Moses put up a special tent outside the camp. It was not near the other tents. He called it the Tent of Meeting. Anyone could go there to ask the Lord about something. They would go to the Tent of Meeting that was outside the camp.^[a]

⁸ When Moses went out to the special tent, all the people would stand at the doors of their tents. They would watch Moses until he went into the special tent. ⁹ When Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down. The cloud would stay at the door of the tent while the Lord spoke to Moses.

¹⁰ Every time that the people saw the pillar of cloud at the door of the special tent, they all stood up. Then each person would stand at the door of his tent. They would bend low to worship the Lord. ¹¹ The Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp. But Nun's son Joshua always stayed in the special tent. Joshua was a young man who helped Moses.

God's great glory

¹² Moses said to the Lord, ‘You have said to me, “Lead these people to their new land.” But you have not told me who my helper will be on the journey. You have told me, “I know you by your name. I am very pleased with you.” ¹³ If you are really pleased with me, tell me your thoughts. I want to understand you properly. Then I can continue to please you. Remember that this nation, the Israelites, are your own people.’

¹⁴ The Lord replied, ‘I myself will go with you. I will give you rest.’^[b]

¹⁵ Then Moses said, ‘If you do not agree to go with us, do not let us go anywhere. ¹⁶ If you do not go with us, nobody will know that you are pleased with me. Nobody will know that you are pleased with us as your special people. I, and all your people, will be the same as all the other people in the world.’

¹⁷ The Lord said to Moses, ‘I will certainly do what you have asked for. This is because I am pleased with you. I know you by your name.’

¹⁸ Then Moses said, ‘Please, show me your glory!’

¹⁹ The Lord said, ‘I will let you see how great and good I am. I will tell you my name, that I am the Lord. If I choose to be kind to someone, I will be kind to them. If I choose to forgive someone, I will forgive them. ²⁰ But you will never see my face. Nobody can see my face and still be alive.’

²¹ Then the Lord said, ‘Look! There is a place near to me. You can stand there on a rock. ²² When my glory passes in front of you, I will put you in a hole in the rock. I will cover your eyes with my hand as I pass by there. ²³ Then I will remove my hand so that you will see my back. But nobody must ever see my face.’

Two new flat stones

34 The Lord said to Moses, ‘Cut two flat stones like the first stones. Then I will write on them all the words that I wrote on the first stones. Those were the stones that you broke into pieces.^{[c] 2} Make yourself ready in the morning and come up Sinai mountain. Stand there, ready to meet me on the top of the mountain. ³ Nobody must come with you. Nobody must go anywhere on the mountain. Even your sheep and your cows must not eat grass near the bottom of the mountain.’

⁴ So Moses cut two flat stones like the first stones. Early in the morning, he went up Sinai mountain, as the Lord had commanded him. He carried the two flat stones in his hands. ⁵ Then the Lord came down in the cloud. He came and he stood with Moses. The Lord spoke aloud his own name, the Lord.

⁶ The Lord passed in front of Moses. He said in a loud voice, ‘I am the Lord! The Lord! I am kind to people and I forgive them. I do not quickly become angry. My faithful love for my people continues for ever, and I am always faithful. ⁷ I faithfully love thousands of people. I forgive their sins when they turn against me. But if people are guilty, I surely punish them. I punish their children, their grandchildren and their grandchildren's children.’

⁸ Then Moses quickly bent down low to worship the Lord. ⁹ He said, ‘Lord, my God, if you are pleased with me, please travel with us! It is true that these people are proud and they often do not obey you. But please forgive all our sins. Please accept us as your own people.’

¹⁰ Then the Lord said, ‘I will make a covenant with the Israelites. I will do great miracles for them to see. Nobody in any nation anywhere in the world has ever done such great things. All the people who live near you will see the great things that I, the Lord, will do. The powerful things that I do among you will make them very afraid.

¹¹ Obey the commands that I am giving you today. Then I will chase out the Amorites, the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites, as you move into the land. ¹² Do not make any agreements with those people in the land where you are going. If you become their friends, they would teach you to do wrong things. ¹³ Instead, you must knock down their altars. Destroy the special stones that are their idols. Cut down their Asherah poles. ¹⁴ Do not worship any other god instead of me. I am the Lord and I want you to belong to me alone.

¹⁵ Be careful not to make an agreement with the people who live in that land. They have turned away to worship their own gods. They offer sacrifices to their gods. When they do that, they may ask you to join with them. Then you will eat the food that they have offered to their gods. ¹⁶ Perhaps you may choose some of their daughters for your sons to marry. Their daughters will continue to worship their gods. Then they will teach your sons to turn away from me and worship their gods.

¹⁷ Do not melt metal to make images of false gods.

¹⁸ Eat the Feast of Flat Bread every year. Eat bread that has no yeast in it for seven days, as I commanded you. Do this on the right day in the month of Abib. That is the month that you came out from Egypt.

¹⁹ Every firstborn child that a woman gives birth to belongs to me. That is also true for every firstborn male that your animals give birth to. That includes your cows and your sheep. ²⁰ For a firstborn donkey, you may pay for it with a lamb instead. If you do not pay for it, you must break the donkey's neck. You must pay me back for every firstborn son that you have.

Nobody may come to worship me without an offering to give me.

²¹ You may work for six days each week, but on the seventh day you must rest. That is true even when it is the time to plough your fields. It is also true at harvest time. You must rest on the seventh day each week.

²² Eat the Feast of Weeks every year when you cut the first wheat in your fields. Eat the Feast of Harvest at the end of each year.^{[d] 23} Three times in every year, all your men must come to worship the Lord God, the God of Israel. ²⁴ I will chase the nations out of the land as you move in. I will give you more and more land to live in. Three times each year you must come to worship the Lord your God. When you do that, nobody will try to take your land for themselves.

²⁵ When you offer the blood of an animal to me as your sacrifice, do not also offer any bread with yeast in it. When you kill a lamb for the Passover sacrifice, do not keep any of the meat until the next morning.

²⁶ When you cut the first crops from your fields, bring the best food to the house of the Lord your God.

Do not cook a young goat in its mother's milk.’

²⁷ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Write down these words. They are the rules of the covenant that I have made with you and with the Israelites.’

²⁸ Moses was there on the mountain with the Lord for 40 days and 40 nights. He did not eat anything or drink anything during that time. He wrote the words of God's covenant on the flat stones. Those were God's ten special commands.

Moses' face shines

²⁹ Moses came down from Sinai mountain. He carried the two stones of the covenant in his hands. As he came down the mountain, he did not know that his face was shining. His face was shining because he had spoken with the Lord. ³⁰ When Aaron and all the Israelites saw Moses, they could see that his face was shining. They were afraid to come near him. ³¹ But Moses called out to them. So Aaron and the leaders of the people came back to him. Then Moses talked to them. ³² After this, all the Israelites came near to Moses. He told them all the commands that the Lord had given to him on Sinai mountain.

³³ When Moses had finished speaking to the people, he covered his face with a thin cloth. ³⁴ But when he went into the special tent to speak with the Lord, he would remove the cloth. When he came out again, he would tell God's commands to the Israelites. ³⁵ They could see that his face was shining. So Moses would put the thin cloth over his face again. The cloth would stay on his face until he went into the special tent again to speak with the Lord.