Bible Gateway passage: Exodus 33 - New King James Version (2024)

The Command to Leave Sinai

33Then the Lord said to Moses, “Depart and go up from here, you ^(A)and the people whom you have brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, ^(B)‘To your descendants I will give it.’ ^2(C)And I will send My Angel before you, ^(D)and I will drive out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. ³Go up ^(E)to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest ^(F)I ^[a]consume you on the way, for you are a ^(G)stiff-necked^[b] people.”

⁴And when the people heard this bad news, ^(H)they mourned, ^(I)and no one put on his ornaments. ⁵For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. I could come up into your midst in one moment and consume you. Now therefore, take off your ^[c]ornaments, that I may ^(J)know what to do to you.’ ” ⁶So the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb.

Moses Meets with the Lord

⁷Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far from the camp, and ^(K)called it the tabernacle of meeting. And it came to pass that everyone who ^(L)sought the Lord went out to the tabernacle of meeting which was outside the camp. ⁸So it was, whenever Moses went out to the tabernacle, that all the people rose, and each man stood ^(M)at his tent door and watched Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. ⁹And it came to pass, when Moses entered the tabernacle, that the pillar of cloud descended and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the Lord ^(N)talked with Moses. ¹⁰All the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the tabernacle door, and all the people rose and ^(O)worshiped, each man in his tent door. ¹¹So ^(P)the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he would return to the camp, but ^(Q)his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the tabernacle.

The Promise of God’s Presence

¹²Then Moses said to the Lord, “See, ^(R)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, ^(S)‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ ¹³Now therefore, I pray, ^(T)if I have found grace in Your sight, ^(U)show me now Your way, that I may know You and that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation is ^(V)Your people.”

¹⁴And He said, ^(W)“My Presence will go with you, and I will give you ^(X)rest.”

¹⁵Then he said to Him, ^(Y)“If Your Presence does not go with us, do not bring us up from here. ¹⁶For how then will it be known that Your people and I have found grace in Your sight, ^(Z)except You go with us? So we ^(AA)shall be separate, Your people and I, from all the people who are upon the face of the earth.”

¹⁷So the Lord said to Moses, ^(AB)“I will also do this thing that you have spoken; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.”

¹⁸And he said, “Please, show me ^(AC)Your glory.”

¹⁹Then He said, “I will make all My ^(AD)goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. ^(AE)I will be gracious to whom I will be ^(AF)gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” ²⁰But He said, “You cannot see My face; for ^(AG)no man shall see Me, and live.” ²¹And the Lord said, “Here is a place by Me, and you shall stand on the rock. ²²So it shall be, while My glory passes by, that I will put you ^(AH)in the cleft of the rock, and will ^(AI)cover you with My hand while I pass by. ²³Then I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back; but My face shall ^(AJ)not be seen.”