Exodus 33
33
1-3 God said to Moses: “Now go. Get on your way from here, you and the people you brought up from the land of Egypt. Head for the land which I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ I will send an angel ahead of you and I’ll drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. It’s a land flowing with milk and honey. But I won’t be with you in person—you’re such a stubborn, hard-headed people!—lest I destroy you on the journey.”
4When the people heard this harsh verdict, they were plunged into gloom and wore long faces. No one put on jewelry.
5-6 God said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You’re one hard-headed people. I couldn’t stand being with you for even a moment—I’d destroy you. So take off all your jewelry until I figure out what to do with you.’” So the Israelites stripped themselves of their jewelry from Mount Horeb on.
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7-10Moses used to take the Tent and set it up outside the camp, some distance away. He called it the Tent of Meeting. Anyone who sought God would go to the Tent of Meeting outside the camp. It went like this: When Moses would go to the Tent, all the people would stand at attention; each man would take his position at the entrance to his tent with his eyes on Moses until he entered the Tent; whenever Moses entered the Tent, the Pillar of Cloud descended to the entrance to the Tent and God spoke with Moses. All the people would see the Pillar of Cloud at the entrance to the Tent, stand at attention, and then bow down in worship, each man at the entrance to his tent.
11And God spoke with Moses face-to-face, as neighbors speak to one another. When he would return to the camp, his attendant, the young man Joshua, stayed—he didn’t leave the Tent.
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12-13Moses said to God, “Look, you tell me, ‘Lead this people,’ but you don’t let me know whom you’re going to send with me. You tell me, ‘I know you well and you are special to me.’ If I am so special to you, let me in on your plans. That way, I will continue being special to you. Don’t forget, this is your people, your responsibility.”
14 God said, “My presence will go with you. I’ll see the journey to the end.”
15-16Moses said, “If your presence doesn’t take the lead here, call this trip off right now. How else will it be known that you’re with me in this, with me and your people? Are you traveling with us or not? How else will we know that we’re special, I and your people, among all other people on this planet Earth?”
17 God said to Moses: “All right. Just as you say; this also I will do, for I know you well and you are special to me. I know you by name.”
18Moses said, “Please. Let me see your Glory.”
19 God said, “I will make my Goodness pass right in front of you; I’ll call out the name, God, right before you. I’ll treat well whomever I want to treat well and I’ll be kind to whomever I want to be kind.”
20 God continued, “But you may not see my face. No one can see me and live.”
21-23 God said, “Look, here is a place right beside me. Put yourself on this rock. When my Glory passes by, I’ll put you in the cleft of the rock and cover you with my hand until I’ve passed by. Then I’ll take my hand away and you’ll see my back. But you won’t see my face.”
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Exodus 33: MSG
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THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright © 1993, 2002, 2018 by Eugene H. Peterson. All rights reserved. Used by permission of NavPress. Represented by Tyndale House Publishers.
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.