The Tent of Meeting

⁷ Now Moses used to take a tent and pitch it outside the camp some distance away, calling it the “tent of meeting.”^(A) Anyone inquiring^(B) of the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. ⁸ And whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people rose and stood at the entrances to their tents,^(C) watching Moses until he entered the tent. ⁹ As Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud^(D) would come down and stay at the entrance, while the Lord spoke^(E) with Moses. ¹⁰ Whenever the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they all stood and worshiped, each at the entrance to their tent.^{(F) 11} The Lord would speak to Moses face to face,^(G) as one speaks to a friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young aide Joshua^(H) son of Nun did not leave the tent.

Moses and the Glory of the Lord

¹² Moses said to the Lord, “You have been telling me, ‘Lead these people,’^(I) but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name^(J) and you have found favor^(K) with me.’ ¹³ If you are pleased with me, teach me your ways^(L) so I may know you and continue to find favor with you. Remember that this nation is your people.”^(M)

¹⁴ The Lord replied, “My Presence^(N) will go with you, and I will give you rest.”^(O)

¹⁵ Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence^(P) does not go with us, do not send us up from here. ¹⁶ How will anyone know that you are pleased with me and with your people unless you go with us?^(Q) What else will distinguish me and your people from all the other people on the face of the earth?”^(R)

¹⁷ And the Lord said to Moses, “I will do the very thing you have asked,^(S) because I am pleased with you and I know you by name.”^(T)

¹⁸ Then Moses said, “Now show me your glory.”^(U)

¹⁹ And the Lord said, “I will cause all my goodness to pass^(V) in front of you, and I will proclaim my name,^(W) the Lord, in your presence. I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.^{(X) 20} But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for no one may see^(Y) me and live.”

²¹ Then the Lord said, “There is a place near me where you may stand on a rock. ²² When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock^(Z) and cover you with my hand^(AA) until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will remove my hand and you will see my back; but my face must not be seen.”

³⁰ “After forty years had passed, an angel appeared to Moses in the flames of a burning bush in the desert near Mount Sinai. ³¹ When he saw this, he was amazed at the sight. As he went over to get a closer look, he heard the Lord say:^{(A) 32} ‘I am the God of your fathers,^(B) the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’^[a] Moses trembled with fear and did not dare to look.^(C)

³³ “Then the Lord said to him, ‘Take off your sandals, for the place where you are standing is holy ground.^{(D) 34} I have indeed seen the oppression of my people in Egypt. I have heard their groaning and have come down to set them free. Now come, I will send you back to Egypt.’^[b](E)