Exodus 33
33
The LORD: “I can’t go”
1The LORD said to Moses, “Go and leave this place, you and the people whom you brought up out of the land of Egypt. Go to the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I’ll give it to your descendants.’ 2I’ll send a messenger before you. I’ll drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 3Go to this land full of milk and honey. But I won’t go up with you because I would end up destroying you along the way since you are a stubborn people.”
4When the people heard the bad news, they were sorry. No one put on any jewelry, 5because the LORD had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stubborn people. If I were to go up with you even for a single moment, I would destroy you. So now take off your jewelry, while I figure out what to do with you.’” 6So after leaving Mount Horeb the Israelites rid themselves of their jewelry.
Speaking with the LORD at the meeting tent
7Moses took the tent and pitched it outside the camp, far away from the camp. He called it the meeting tent. Everyone who wanted advice from the LORD would go out to the meeting tent outside the camp. 8Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand at the entrance to their tents and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. 9When Moses entered the tent, the column of cloud would come down and stand at the tent’s entrance while the LORD talked with Moses. 10When all the people saw the column of cloud standing at the tent’s entrance, they would all rise and then bow down at the entrances to their tents. 11In this way the LORD used to speak to Moses face-to-face, like two people talking to each other. Then Moses would come back to the camp. But his young assistant Joshua, Nun’s son, wouldn’t leave the tent.
Moses pleads with God
12Moses said to the LORD, “Look, you’ve been telling me, ‘Lead these people forward.’ But you haven’t told me whom you will send with me. Yet you’ve assured me, ‘I know you by name and think highly of you.’ 13Now if you do think highly of me, show me your ways so that I may know you and so that you may really approve of me. Remember too that this nation is your people.”
14The LORD replied, “I’ll go myself, and I’ll help you.”
15Moses replied, “If you won’t go yourself, don’t make us leave here. 16Because how will anyone know that we have your special approval, both I and your people, unless you go with us? Only that distinguishes us, me and your people, from every other people on the earth.”
17The LORD said to Moses, “I’ll do exactly what you’ve asked because you have my special approval, and I know you by name.”
18Moses said, “Please show me your glorious presence.”
19The LORD said, “I’ll make all my goodness pass in front of you, and I’ll proclaim before you the name, ‘The LORD.’ I will be kind to whomever I wish to be kind, and I will have compassion to whomever I wish to be compassionate. 20But,” the LORD said, “you can’t see my face because no one can see me and live.” 21The LORD said, “Here is a place near me where you will stand beside the rock. 22As my glorious presence passes by, I’ll set you in a gap in the rock, and I’ll cover you with my hand until I’ve passed by. 23Then I’ll take away my hand, and you will see my back, but my face won’t be visible.”
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Exodus 33: CEB
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2011 Common English Bible. All rights reserved.
Exodus 33
33
1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: "Go forth, ascend from this place, you and your people, whom you led away from the land of Egypt, into the land that I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying: To your offspring, I will give it.
2 And I will send an Angel to precede you, so that I may cast out the Canaanite, and the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite,
3 and so that you may enter into a land flowing with milk and honey. For I will not go up with you, since you are a stiff-necked people, lest perhaps I may destroy you on the way."
4 And upon hearing this very bad news, the people mourned; and no one put on his finery according to custom.
5 And the Lord said to Moses: "Say to the sons of Israel: You are a stiff-necked people. I should at once go up into your midst and destroy you. Now immediately put aside your ornaments, so that I may know what to do to you."
6 Therefore, the sons of Israel put aside their ornaments before Mount Horeb.
7 Also, Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it beyond the camp at a distance, and he called its name: 'Tabernacle of the Covenant.' And all the people, who had any kind of question, went out to the Tabernacle of the Covenant, beyond the camp.
8 And when Moses went out to the tabernacle, all the people rose up, and each one stood at the door of his pavilion, and they beheld the back of Moses until he entered the tent.
9 And when he had gone into the Tabernacle of the Covenant, the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door, and he spoke with Moses.
10 And all discerned that the pillar of cloud stood at the door of the Tabernacle. And they stood and worshipped at the doors of their tents.
11 But the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, just as a man is used to speaking to his friend. And when he returned to the camp, his minister Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not withdraw from the Tabernacle.
12 Then Moses said to the Lord: "You instruct me to lead this people away, and you do not reveal to me whom you will send with me, particularly since you have said: 'I know you by name, and you have found favor before me.'
13 If, therefore, I have found favor in your sight, show your face to me, so that I may know you and may find grace before your eyes. Look favorably on your people, this nation."
14 And the Lord said, "My face will precede you, and I will give you rest."
15 And Moses said: "If you will not yourself precede us, then do not lead us away from this place.
16 For how will we be able to know, I and your people, that we have found grace in your sight, unless you walk with us, so that we may be glorified out of all the people who live upon the earth?"
17 Then the Lord said to Moses: "This word also, which you have spoken, I will do. For you have found grace before me, and I have known you by name."
18 And he said, "Show me your glory."
19 He responded: "I will show you all that is good, and I will call out with the name of the Lord before you. And I will take pity on whomever I will, and I will be lenient to whomever it will please me."
20 And again he said: "You are not able to see my face. For man shall not see me and live."
21 And again, he said: "Behold, there is a place with me, and you shall stand upon the rock.
22 And when my glory will cross over, I will set you in a cleft of the rock, and I will protect you with my right hand, until I pass by.
23 And I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back. But my face you are not able to see."
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