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Exodus 33

1Yahweh spoke to Moses: “Go, go up from here, you and the people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your seed.’ 2I will send a messenger before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites. 3Go to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go up in your midst, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way.”

4When the people heard this disastrous word, they mourned, and no one put on his ornaments. 5Yahweh said to Moses, “Say to the sons of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I went up in your midst for a single moment, I would consume you. Now take off your ornaments, so that I may know what to do with you.’” 6So the sons of Israel stripped off their ornaments from Mount Horeb onward.

7Moses would take the tent and pitch it for himself outside the camp, far from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. Everyone seeking Yahweh would go out to the tent of meeting outside the camp. 8Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand, each at the entrance of his tent, and watch Moses until he entered the tent. 9Whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent, and he would speak with Moses. 10All the people would see the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, and all the people would rise and bow down, each at the entrance of his tent. 11Yahweh would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Then he would return to the camp, but his attendant Joshua son of Nun, a young man, would not leave the tent.

12Moses said to Yahweh, “Look, you are telling me, ‘Bring this people up,’ but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my eyes.’ 13Now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please make your ways known to me, so that I may know you and find favor in your eyes. And see that this nation is your people.” 14He said, “My presence will go, and I will give you rest.” 15He said to him, “If your presence does not go, do not bring us up from here. 16For how then will it be known that I have found favor in your eyes, I and your people? Is it not by your going with us, so that we are distinguished, I and your people, from all the people on the face of the ground?” 17Yahweh said to Moses, “I will also do this thing you have spoken of, for you have found favor in my eyes, and I know you by name.”

18He said, “Please show me your glory.” 19He said, “I will make all my goodness pass before your face, and I will proclaim the name Yahweh before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” 20He said, “You cannot see my face, for no human can see me and live.” 21Yahweh said, “Look, there is a place beside me; stand on the rock. 22When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock and cover you with my palm until I have passed by. 23Then I will remove my palm, and you will see my back; but my face will not be seen.”

Translation notes 7

33:1–3 — Seed; messenger. “Seed” means descendants. The messenger's identity is not supplied. “Go” in verse 3 resumes the command of verse 1; the Hebrew begins the verse with “to a land.”

33:5–6 — A moment; ornaments. Verse 5 is construed as a condition, “If I went up,” in light of the danger stated in verse 3. “From Mount Horeb onward” takes the mountain as the starting point of their going without ornaments; “at Mount Horeb” is another way to understand the location phrase. “Sons of Israel” names the whole ancestral people.

33:7–11 — The tent outside the camp. The passage describes a recurring practice at a tent far outside the camp. It should not be silently identified in translation with the completed sanctuary whose construction comes later. “Tent of meeting” is the name used here as well as in the sanctuary instructions. Joshua is described as Moses' attendant, not as a priest.

33:9, 11 — He would speak; face to face. The subject of “he would speak” in verse 9 is understood as Yahweh from the context. “Face to face” in verse 11 describes direct personal speech, as the comparison with a friend suggests. Verse 20 nevertheless says that a human cannot see God's face and live. Both formulations are retained.

33:12–17 — Favor in your eyes; presence. The eyes image describes favor. “My presence” is literally “my face,” a conventional expression for God's personal presence. The “you” receiving rest in verse 14 is singular, addressed to Moses; his answer asks that “us,” the people, be brought up. The Hebrew does not expressly add “with you” after “will go.”

33:19 — Name and compassion. The repeated verbs are retained: “I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious” and “have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” The declaration does not state a reason for choosing its recipients. The name Yahweh is distinguished from the title Lord.

33:20–23 — Face, palm, and back. The passage preserves bodily images rather than replacing them with an explanation of what may be seen. “Palm” is the more specific Hebrew word for the hand used to cover Moses. “My back” can be interpreted as the rearward manifestation or aftermath of God's passing, but that interpretation is not substituted for the image in the text.