Exodus 33
33
1The Lord spoke to Moses: Go! You and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt are to go up from here to the land about which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob: I will give it to your descendants.#Gn 12:7. 2Driving out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites, I will send an angel before you#Ex 23:23. 3to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I myself will not go up in your company, because you are a stiff-necked people; otherwise I might consume you on the way. 4When the people heard this painful news, they mourned, and no one wore any ornaments.
5The Lord spoke to Moses: Speak to the Israelites: You are a stiff-necked people. Were I to go up in your company even for a moment, I would destroy you. Now off with your ornaments! Let me think what to do with you. 6So, from Mount Horeb onward, the Israelites stripped off their ornaments.
Moses’ Intimacy with God. 7Moses used to pitch a tent#Ex 29:42–43. outside the camp at some distance. It was called the tent of meeting. Anyone who wished to consult the Lord would go to the tent of meeting outside the camp. 8Whenever Moses went out to the tent, the people would all rise and stand at the entrance of their own tents, watching Moses until he entered the tent. 9As Moses entered the tent, the column of cloud would come down and stand at its entrance while the Lord spoke with Moses. 10On seeing the column of cloud stand at the entrance of the tent, all the people would rise and bow down at the entrance of their own tents. 11The Lord used to speak to Moses face to face,#Nm 12:8; Dt 34:10; Sir 45:4–5. as a person speaks to a friend. Moses would then return to the camp, but his young assistant, Joshua, son of Nun, never left the tent. 12Moses said to the Lord, “See, you are telling me: Lead this people.#Ex 32:34. But you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said: You are my intimate friend;#Intimate friend: lit., “know by name.” The root word meaning “know” or “make known” appears four times in vv. 12–13. You have found favor with me. 13Now, if I have found favor with you, please let me know your ways so that, in knowing you, I may continue to find favor with you. See, this nation is indeed your own people. 14The Lord answered: I myself#I myself: lit., “my face,” that is, “my presence.” The making of the calf (32:1–4) is an attempt to control the Lord’s presence. In response the Lord refuses to accompany the people (33:3) until Moses persuades him. will go along, to give you rest. 15Moses replied, “If you are not going yourself, do not make us go up from here. 16For how can it be known that I and your people have found favor with you, except by your going with us? Then we, your people and I, will be singled out from every other people on the surface of the earth.” 17The Lord said to Moses: This request, too, which you have made, I will carry out, because you have found favor with me and you are my intimate friend.
18Then Moses said, “Please let me see your glory!” 19The Lord answered: I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim my name, “Lord,” before you; I who show favor to whom I will, I who grant mercy to whom I will.#Rom 9:15. 20But you cannot see my face,#Jn 1:18; 1 Tm 6:16. for no one can see me and live.#No one can see me and live: reflecting the tradition that to see God meant instant death. This is contradicted by the statements that Hagar (Gn 16:13), Jacob (Gn 32:31), and Manoah and his wife (Jgs 13:22) all “see God” and yet live (see also Ex 24:10–11). 21Here, continued the Lord, is a place near me where you shall station yourself on the rock. 22When my glory passes I will set you in the cleft of the rock and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23Then I will remove my hand, so that you may see my back; but my face may not be seen.
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Exodus 33: NABRE
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Exodus 33
33
1And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Go, get thee up from this place, thou and thy people which thou has brought out of the land of Egypt, into the land concerning which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying: To thy seed I will give it.
2And I will send an angel before thee, that I may cast out the Chanaanite, and the Amorrhite, and the Hethite, and the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite.
3That thou mayst enter into the land that floweth with milk and honey. For I will not go up with thee, because thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I destroy thee in the way.
4And the people hearing these very bad tidings mourned: and no man put on his ornaments according to custom.
5And the Lord said to Moses: Say to the children of Israel: Thou are a stiffnecked people; once I shall come up in the midst of thee, and shall destroy thee. Now presently lay aside thy ornaments, that I may know what to do with thee.
6So the children of Israel laid aside their ornaments by mount Horeb.
7Moses also, taking the tabernacle, pitched it without the camp afar off, and called the name thereof, The tabernacle of the covenant. And all the people that had any question, went forth to the tabernacle of the covenant, without the camp.
8And when Moses went forth to the tabernacle, all the people rose up, and every one stood in the door of his pavilion: and they beheld the back of Moses, till he went into the tabernacle.
9And when he was gone into the tabernacle of the covenant, the pillar of the cloud came down, and stood at the door: and he spoke with Moses.
10And all saw that the pillar of the cloud stood at the door of the tabernacle. And they stood, and worshipped at the doors of their tents.
11And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man is wont to speak to his friend. And when he returned into the camp, his servant Josue the son of Nun, a young man, departed not from the tabernacle.
12And Moses said to the Lord: Thou commandest me to lead forth this people. And thou dost not let me know whom thou wilt send with me, especially whereas thou hast said: I know thee by name, and thou hast found favour in my sight.
13If therefore I have found favour in thy sight, shew me thy face, that I may know thee, and may find grace before thy eyes. Look upon thy people this nation.
14And the Lord said: My face shall go before thee, and I will give thee rest.
15And Moses said: If thou thyself dost not go before, bring us not out of this place.
16For how shall we be able to know, I and thy people, that we have found grace in thy sight, unless thou walk with us: that we may be glorified by all people that dwell upon the earth?
17And the Lord said to Moses: This word also, which thou hast spoken, will I do. For thou hast found grace before me, and thee I have known by name.
18And he said: Shew me thy glory.
19He answered: I will shew thee all good, and I will proclaim in the name of the Lord before thee: And I will have mercy on whom I will, and I will be merciful to whom it shall please me.
20And again he said: Thou canst not see my face: for man shall not see me and live.
21And again he said: Behold, there is a place with me, and thou shalt stand upon the rock.
22And when my glory shall pass, I will set thee in a hole of the rock, and protect thee with my right hand, till I pass.
23And I will take away my hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face thou canst not see.
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An historical text maintained by the British and Foreign Bible Society.