Exodus 33
33
The LORD Assures Moses That He Will Have Mercy on Israel
1Then the Lord said to Moses, “You and the people you brought out of Egypt must leave this place. Go to the land I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob with an oath, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ 2I will send a Messenger ahead of you, and I will force out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 3Go to that land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not be with you, because you are impossible to deal with, and I would destroy you on the way.”
4When the people heard this bad news, they acted as if someone had died. No one wore any jewelry. 5The Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are impossible to deal with. If I were with you, I might destroy you at any time. Now take off your jewelry, and I’ll decide what to do with you.’ ” 6After they left Mount Horeb, the Israelites no longer wore their jewelry.
7Now, Moses used to take a tent and set it up far outside the camp. He called it the tent of meeting. Anyone who was seeking the Lord’s will used to go outside the camp to the tent of meeting. 8Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand at the entrances to their tents and watch Moses until he went in. 9As soon as Moses went into the tent, the column of smoke would come down and stay at the entrance to the tent while the Lord spoke with Moses. 10When all the people saw the column of smoke standing at the entrance to the tent, they would all bow with their faces touching the ground at the entrance to their own tents. 11The Lord would speak to Moses personally, as a man speaks to his friend. Then Moses would come back to the camp, but his assistant, Joshua, son of Nun, stayed inside the tent.
12Moses said to the Lord, “You’ve been telling me to lead these people, but you haven’t let me know whom you’re sending with me. You’ve also said, ‘I know you by name, and I’m pleased with you.’ 13If you really are pleased with me, show me your ways so that I can know you and so that you will continue to be pleased with me. Remember: This nation is your people.”
14The Lord answered, “My presence will go ⌞with you,⌟ and I will give you peace.”
15Then Moses said to him, “If your presence is not going ⌞with us⌟, don’t make us leave this place. 16How will anyone ever know you’re pleased with your people and me unless you go with us? Then we will be different from all other people on the face of the earth.”
17The Lord answered Moses, “I will do what you have asked, because I am pleased with you, and I know you by name.”
18Then Moses said, “Please let me see your glory.”
19The Lord said, “I will let all my goodness pass in front of you, and there I will call out my name ‘the Lord.’ I will be kind to anyone I want to. I will be merciful to anyone I want to. 20But you can’t see my face, because no one may see me and live.”
21Then the Lord said, “Look, there’s a place near me. Stand by this rocky cliff. 22When my glory passes by, I will put you in a crevice in the cliff and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23Then I will take my hand away, and you’ll see my back, but my face must not be seen.”
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Exodus 33: GW
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GOD'S WORD® Translation ©1995, 2003, 2013, 2014, 2019, 2020 by God's Word to the Nations Mission 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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