Exodus 33:1–11

The Journey Resumed

¹Then the Lord spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up from the land of Egypt, to the land of which ^aI swore to Abraham, ^bIsaac, and ^cJacob, saying, ‘^dTo your ¹descendants I will give it.’

²“I will send ^aan angel before you and ^bI will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, the Hittite, the Perizzite, the Hivite and the Jebusite.

³“Go up to a land ^aflowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, because you are ^1ban obstinate people, and ^cI might destroy you on the way.”

⁴When the people heard this ¹sad word, ^athey went into mourning, and none of them put on his ornaments.

⁵For the Lord had said to Moses, “Say to the sons of Israel, ‘You are ^1aan obstinate people; should I go up in your midst for one moment, I would destroy you. Now therefore, put off your ornaments from you, that I may know what I shall do with you.’ ”

⁶So the sons of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.

⁷Now Moses used to take ^athe tent and pitch it outside the camp, a good distance from the camp, and he called it the tent of meeting. And ^beveryone who sought the Lord would go out to the tent of meeting which was outside the camp.

⁸And it came about, whenever Moses went out to the tent, that all the people would arise and stand, each at the entrance of his tent, and gaze after Moses until he entered the tent.

⁹Whenever Moses entered the tent, ^athe pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the entrance of the tent; ^band ¹the Lord would speak with Moses.

¹⁰When all the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance of the tent, all the people would arise and worship, each at the entrance of his tent.

¹¹Thus ^athe Lord used to speak to Moses face to face, just as a man speaks to his friend. When ¹Moses returned to the camp, ^bhis servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, would not depart from the tent.