Exodus 33–34

Command to Resume Travel

33And Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land that I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ ²And I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites,^a the Amorites,^b and the Hittites^c and the Perizzites,^d the Hivites,^e and the Jebusites,^{f 3}Go to a land flowing with milk and honey, but I will not go up among you, because you are a stiff-necked people, lest I destroy you on the way.” ⁴And the people heard this troubling^g word, and they mourned, and they each did not put their ornaments on themselves.

⁵And Yahweh said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites,^h ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if one moment I were to go up among you, I would destroy you. And now take down your ornaments from on you, and I will decideⁱ what I will do to you.” ⁶And the Israelites^j stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb onward.

The Tent outside the Camp

⁷And Moses took the tent and pitched it outside the camp far from the camp, and he called it the tent of assembly, and^k all seeking Yahweh would go out to the tent of assembly, which was outside the camp. ⁸And^l at the going out of Moses to the tent, all the people would rise and stand, each at the opening of his tent, and gaze after Moses until his entering the tent. ⁹And^m at the entering of Moses into the tent the column of cloud would descend and stand at the opening of the tent, and he would speak with Moses. ¹⁰And all the people would see the column of cloud standing at the opening of the tent, and all the people would rise and bow in worship, each at the opening of his tent. ¹¹And Yahweh would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his neighbor. And he would return to the camp, and his assistant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the middle of the tent.

Presence and Glory

¹²And Moses said to Yahweh, “See, you are saying to me, ‘Take this people up.’ But you have not let me know whom you will send with me, and you yourself have said, ‘I know you by name, and you also have found favor in my eyes.’ ¹³And now if I have found favor in your eyes, make known to me, please, your way, and so I may know you so that I can find favor in your eyes. And see that this nation is your people.” ¹⁴And he said, “My presence will go, and I will give you rest.” ¹⁵And he said to him, “If your presence is not going, do not bring us up from here. ¹⁶And by what will it be known then that I have found favor in your eyes, I and your people? Is it not by your going with us? And so we will be distinguished, I and your people, from all the people who are on the face of the ground.”

¹⁷And Yahweh said to Moses, “Also I will do this thing that you have spoken, because you have found favor in my eyes and I have known you by name.”

¹⁸And he said, “Please show me your glory.”

¹⁹And he said, “I myself will cause all my goodness to pass over before you, and I will proclaim the name of Yahweh before you, and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show compassion to whom I will show compassion.” ²⁰But he said, “You are not able to see my face, because a human will not see me and live.” ²¹And Yahweh said, “There is a place with me, and you will stand on the rock. ²²Andⁿ when my glory passes over, I will put you in the rock’s crevice, and I will cover you with my hand until I pass over. ²³And I will remove my hand, and you will see my back, but my face will not be visible.”

Yahweh’s Description of Himself

34And Yahweh said to Moses, “Cut for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones, and I will write on the tablets the words that were on the first tablets, which you broke. ²And be ready for the morning, and go up in the morning to Mount Sinai and present yourself to me there on the top of the mountain. ³And no one will go up with you, and neither let anyone be seen on all the mountain, nor let the sheep and goats and the cattle graze opposite^a that mountain.”

⁴And Moses cut two stone tablets like the first ones, and he started early in the morning, and he went up to Mount Sinai, as Yahweh had commanded him, and he took in his hand the two stone tablets. ⁵And Yahweh descended in the cloud, and he stood with him there, and he proclaimed the name of Yahweh. ⁶And Yahweh passed over before him, and he proclaimed, “Yahweh, Yahweh, God, who is compassionate and gracious, slow to anger,^b and abounding with^c loyal love and faithfulness, ⁷keeping loyal love to the thousands, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, and he does not leave utterly unpunished, punishing the guilt of fathers on sons and on sons of sons on third and fourth generations.”

⁸And Moses hurried and knelt down to the earth and worshiped. ⁹And he said, “Please, if I have found favor in your eyes, Lord, let my Lord, please, go among us—indeed it is a stiff-necked people—and forgive our iniquity and our sin and take us as your possession.”^d

Covenant Stipulations

¹⁰And he said, “Look, I am about to make a covenant. In front of all your people I will do wonders that have not been created on all the earth and among all the nations, and all the people among whom you are will see Yahweh’s work, because what I am about to do with you will be awesome.

¹¹“Keep for yourself what I myself have commanded you today. Look, I am about to drive from before you the Amorites and the Canaanites^e and the Hittites^f and the Perizzites^g and the Hivites^h and the Jebusites.^{i 12}Be careful for yourself, lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land to which you are going, lest it be a snare among you. ¹³Rather, you will tear down their altars, and you will break their stone pillars, and you will cut off their Asherah poles. ¹⁴For you will not bow in worship to another god, for ‘Yahweh Is Jealous’ is his name, he is a jealous God, ¹⁵lest you make a covenant with the inhabitants of the land, and they prostitute themselves after their gods, and they sacrifice to their gods, and they invite you, and you eat their sacrifice, ¹⁶and you take from their daughters for your sons, and their daughters prostitute themselves after their gods, and they cause your sons to prostitute themselves after their gods. ¹⁷You will not make gods of cast metal for yourself.

¹⁸“You will keep the Feast of Unleavened Bread. Seven days you will eat unleavened bread, which I commanded you, at the appointed time of the month of Abib, for in the month of Abib you came out from Egypt. ¹⁹Every first offspring of a womb is for me—all of your male livestock, the first offspring of cattle and small livestock. ²⁰But the first offspring of a donkey you will redeem with small livestock, and if you will not redeem it, you will break its neck. Every firstborn of your sons you will redeem, and you will not appear before me empty-handed. ²¹Six days you will work, and on the seventh day you will rest; in the time of plowing and in the time of harvest you will rest. ²²And you yourself^j will observe the Feast of Weeks—the firstfruits of the wheat harvest—and the Feast of Harvest Gathering at the turn of the year. ²³Three times in the year all your males will appear before the Lord, Yahweh, the God of Israel, ²⁴because I will evict nations before you, and I will enlarge your territory, and no one will covet your land when you go up to appear before Yahweh your God three times in the year.

²⁵“You will not slaughter the blood of my sacrifice on food with yeast, and the sacrifice of the Feast of the Passover will not stay overnight to the morning. ²⁶The beginning of the firstfruits of your land you will bring to the house of Yahweh your God. You will not boil a young goat^k in its mother’s milk.”

²⁷And Yahweh said to Moses, “Write for yourself these words, because according to^l these words I have made a covenant with you and with Israel.”

The Shining Face of Moses

²⁸And he was there with Yahweh forty days and forty nights. He ate no food and drank no water. And he wrote on the tablets the words of the covenant, the ten words. ²⁹And^m when Moses came down from Mount Sinai, the two tablets of the testimony were in the hand of Moses at his coming down from the mountain; and Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone because of his speaking with him. ³⁰And Aaron and all the Israelitesⁿ saw Moses, and, to their amazement,^o the skin of his face shone, and they were afraid of coming near to him. ³¹And Moses called to them, and Aaron and all the leaders of the community returned to him, and Moses spoke to them. ³²And afterward all the Israelites^p came near, and he commanded them all that Yahweh had spoken with him on Mount Sinai. ³³And Moses finished speaking with them, and he put a veil on his face. ³⁴And when Moses came before Yahweh to speak with him, he would remove the veil until he went out, and he would go out and would speak to the Israelites^q what he had been commanded. ³⁵And the Israelites^r would see the face of Moses, that the skin of the face of Moses shone, and Moses would put back the veil on his face until his coming to speak with him.