Exodus 33

1 And the Lord said to Moses, “Go on — go up from here, you and your people, whom you brought out of the land of Egypt, to the land I swore to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob, saying: I will give it to your descendants. 2 And I will send my messenger ahead of you, and he will drive out the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Girgashite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. [a] 3 And I will bring you into a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go up among you — because you are a stiff-necked people — or I might wipe you out on the road.” 4 And when the people heard this hard word, they mourned, in mourning clothes. 5 For the Lord had said to the children of Israel, “You are a stiff-necked people. Watch out, or I will bring another blow on you and destroy you. Now take off your splendid garments and your ornaments, and I will show you what I am going to do with you.” 6 So the sons of Israel stripped off their ornaments and their finery, from Mount Horeb on.

7 And Moses took his tent and pitched it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and it was called the tent of witness. And everyone who sought the Lord went out to the tent outside the camp. [b] 8 And whenever Moses went out to the tent outside the camp, all the people would stand, each one watching at the door of his own tent, and they would follow Moses with their eyes until he went into the tent. 9 And when Moses went into the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stand at the door of the tent, and he would speak with Moses. 10 And all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the door of the tent; and all the people stood and bowed down, each at the door of his own tent. 11 And the Lord spoke to Moses face to face, the way a man speaks to his own friend. Then he would go back into the camp; but his attendant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the tent.

12 And Moses said to the Lord, “Look — you say to me, Lead this people up; but you have not shown me whom you will send with me. And you have said to me: I know you above all, and you have favor with me. 13 If, then, I have found favor before you, show me your own self — let me see you and know you, so that I may truly have found favor before you, and so that I may know that this great nation is your people.” [c] 14 And he said, “I myself will go ahead of you, and I will give you rest.” 15 And he said to him, “If you yourself do not go with us, do not bring me up from here. 16 And how will anyone truly know that I have found favor with you — I and your people — except by your going with us? Then I and your people will be glorified beyond all the nations on the face of the earth.” 17 And the Lord said to Moses, “This word of yours, too, I will do — for you have found favor before me, and I know you above all.” 18 And he said, “Show me your glory.” 19 And he said, “I will pass by in front of you in my glory, and I will call out my name — the Lord — before you. And I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” 20 And he said, “You will not be able to see my face; for no man can see my face and live.” 21 And the Lord said, “Look — there is a place beside me. Stand on the rock; 22 and when my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23 Then I will take my hand away, and you will see my back — but my face will not be seen by you.”