Exodus 33
33
The Lord Tells Israel To Leave Mount Sinai
1 #
Gn 12.7;
Gn 26.3;
Gn 28.13. The Lord said to Moses:
You led the people of Israel out of Egypt. Now get ready to lead them to the land I promised their ancestors Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. 2-3It is a land rich with milk and honey, and I will send an angel to force out those people who live there—the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. But I will not go with my people. They are so rebellious that I would destroy them before they get there.
4-5Even before the Lord said these harsh things, he had told Moses, “These people really are rebellious, and I would kill them at once, if I went with them. But tell them to take off their fancy jewelry, then I'll decide what to do with them.” So the people started mourning, 6and after leaving Mount Sinai,#33.6 Mount Sinai: The Hebrew text has “Mount Horeb,” another name for Sinai. they stopped wearing fancy jewelry.
The Lord Is with His People
7Moses used to set up a tent far from camp. He called it the “meeting tent,” and whoever needed some message from the Lord would go there. 8Each time Moses went out to this tent, everyone would stand at the entrance to their own tents and watch him enter. 9-11Then they would bow down because a thick cloud would come down in front of the tent, and the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, just like a friend. Afterwards, Moses would return to camp, but his young assistant Joshua#33.9-11 Joshua: Hebrew “Joshua son of Nun.” would stay at the tent.
The Lord Promises To Be with His People
12Moses said to the Lord, “I know that you have told me to lead these people to the land you promised them. But you have not said who will go along to help me. You have said that you are my friend and that you are pleased with me. 13If this is true, let me know what your plans are, then I can obey and continue to please you. And don't forget that you have chosen this nation to be your own.”
14The Lord said, “I will go with you and give you peace.”
15Then Moses replied, “If you aren't going with us, please don't make us leave this place. 16But if you do go with us, everyone will know that you are pleased with your people and with me. That way, we will be different from the rest of the people on earth.”
17So the Lord told him, “I will do what you have asked, because I am your friend and I am pleased with you.”
18Then Moses said, “I pray that you will let me see you in all of your glory.”
19 #
Ro 9.15. The Lord answered:
All right. I am the Lord, and I show mercy and kindness to anyone I choose. I will let you see my glory and hear my holy name, 20but I won't let you see my face, because anyone who sees my face will die. 21There is a rock not far from me. Stand beside it, 22and before I pass by in all of my shining glory, I will put you in a large crack in the rock. I will cover your eyes with my hand until I have passed by. 23Then I will take my hand away, and you will see my back. You will not see my face.
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Exodus 33: CEV
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Contemporary English Version, Second Edition (CEV®)
© 2006 American Bible Society. All rights reserved.
Exodus 33
33
The Command to Leave Sinai
1The Lord said to Moses, “Depart; go up from here, you #ch. 32:7 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 #ch. 32:13; See Gen. 12:7your offspring I will give it.’ 2I will send an #See ch. 14:19 angel before you, #See ch. 13:5and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 3#See ch. 3:8 Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; #[ver. 15-17] but I will not go up among you, #ch. 32:10; Num. 16:21, 45 lest I consume you on the way, for you are a #See ch. 32:9stiff-necked people.”
4When the people heard this disastrous word, they #Num. 14:39 mourned, and #[Ezek. 24:17, 23; 26:16]no one put on his ornaments. 5For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the people of Israel, ‘You are a #[See ver. 3 above] stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would #ch. 32:12 consume you. So now #[See ver. 4 above]take off your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.’” 6Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.
The Tent of Meeting
7Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and #ch. 29:42, 43 he called it the tent of meeting. And everyone who #Deut. 4:29; 2 Sam. 21:1; 1 Chr. 16:10, 11; Ps. 40:16sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting, which was outside the camp. 8Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise up, and #[Num. 16:27]each would stand at his tent door, and watch Moses until he had gone into the tent. 9When Moses entered the tent, the #See ch. 13:21pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and the Lord#33:9 Hebrew he would speak with Moses. 10And 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. 11Thus #Num. 12:8; Deut. 34:10; See Gen. 32:30 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 #ch. 17:9, 10; 24:13; 32:17assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.
Moses’ Intercession
12Moses said to the Lord, “See, #ch. 32:34 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, #ver. 17‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ 13Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please #Ps. 25:4; [Ps. 103:7] show me now your ways, that I may know you in order to find favor in your sight. Consider too that this nation is #Deut. 9:29; [Joel 2:17]your people.” 14And he said, #Josh. 1:5; Isa. 63:9; See ch. 40:34-38 “My presence will go with you, and #Deut. 3:20; Josh. 21:44; 22:4; 23:1; [Ps. 95:11]I will give you rest.” 15And he said to him, #[ver. 1-3]“If your presence will not go with me, do not bring us up from here. 16For how shall it be known that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? #Num. 14:14 Is it not in your going with us, #ch. 19:5, 6; 1 Kgs. 8:53so that we are distinct, I and your people, from every other people on the face of the earth?”
17And the Lord said to Moses, “This very thing that you have spoken I will do, #ver. 12, 13for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.” 18Moses said, “Please #[ver. 20; 1 Tim. 6:16]show me your glory.” 19And he said, #Ps. 31:19; Jer. 31:14; [ch. 34:5-7] “I will make all my goodness pass before you and will proclaim before you my name ‘The Lord.’ And #Cited Rom. 9:15I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. 20But,” he said, “you cannot see my face, for #Gen. 32:30; Deut. 5:24; Judg. 6:22, 23; 13:22; Isa. 6:5; Rev. 1:17; [ch. 24:10, 11]man shall not see me and live.” 21And the Lord said, “Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand on the rock, 22and while my glory passes by I will put you in a #Isa. 2:21 cleft of the rock, and I will #Ps. 91:1, 4cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall #ver. 20; John 1:18; 1 Tim. 6:16; 1 John 4:12not be seen.”
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