² And Ruth the Moabite said to Naomi, “Let me go to the field and ^(A)glean among the ears of grain after him ^(B)in whose sight I shall find favor.” And she said to her, “Go, my daughter.”

¹⁰ Then ^(A)she fell on her face, bowing to the ground, and said to him, “Why have I found favor in your eyes, that you should ^(B)take notice of me, since I am a foreigner?”

¹³ Then she said, ^(A)“I have found favor in your eyes, my lord, for you have comforted me and spoken kindly to your servant, though I am not one of your servants.”

^3 (A)Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; ^(B)but I will not go up among you, ^(C)lest I consume you on the way, for you are a ^(D)stiff-necked people.”

⁴ When the people heard this disastrous word, they ^(E)mourned, and ^(F)no one put on his ornaments. ⁵ For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a ^(G)stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would ^(H)consume you. So now ^(I)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 ^(J)he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who ^(K)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 ^(L)each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. ⁹ When Moses entered the tent, the ^(M)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 ^(N)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 ^(O)assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.

Moses' Intercession

¹² Moses said to the Lord, “See, ^(P)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, ^(Q)‘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 ^(R)show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is ^(S)your people.” ¹⁴ And he said, ^(T)“My presence will go with you, and ^(U)I will give you rest.” ¹⁵ And he said to him, ^(V)“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? ^(W)Is it not in your going with us, ^(X)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, ^(Y)for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” ¹⁸ Moses said, “Please ^(Z)show me your glory.” ¹⁹ And he said, ^(AA)“I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And ^(AB)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 ^(AC)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 ^(AD)cleft of the rock, and I will ^(AE)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 ^(AF)not be seen.”

For God So Loved the World

¹⁶ “For ^(A)God so loved ^(B)the world,^{[a] (C)}that he gave his only Son, that whoever believes in him should not ^(D)perish but have eternal life. ¹⁷ For ^(E)God did not send his Son into the world ^(F)to condemn the world, but in order that the world might be saved through him.