1   The Lord spoke to Moses: ‘Come, go up from here, you and the people you have brought up from Egypt, to the land which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob that I would give to their posterity. 2   I will send an angel ahead of you, and will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites and the Hittites and the Perizzites, the Hivites and the Jebusites. 3   I will bring you ^note to a land flowing with milk and honey, but I will not journey in your company, for fear that I annihilate you on the way; for you are a stubborn people.’ 4   When the people heard this harsh sentence they went about like mourners, and no man put on his ornaments. 5   The Lord said to Moses, ‘Tell the Israelites, “You are a stubborn people: at any moment, if I journey in your company, I may annihilate you. Put away your ornaments now, and I will determine what to do to you.”’ 6   And so the Israelites stripped off their ornaments, and wore them no more from Mount Horeb onwards.

7   Moses used to take a ^note tent and pitch it at a distance outside the camp. He called it the Tent of the Presence, and everyone who sought the Lord would go out to the Tent of the Presence outside the camp. 8   Whenever Moses went out to the tent, all the people would rise and stand, each at the entrance to his tent, and follow Moses with their eyes until he entered the tent. 9   When Moses entered it, the pillar of cloud came down, and stayed at the entrance to the tent while the Lord spoke with Moses. 10   As soon as the people saw the pillar of cloud standing at the entrance to the tent, they would all prostrate themselves, every man at the entrance to his tent. 11   The Lord would speak with Moses face to face, as one man speaks to another. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his young assistant, Joshua son of Nun, never moved from inside the tent.

12   Moses said to the Lord, ‘Thou bidst me lead this people up, but thou hast not told me whom thou wilt send with me. Thou hast said to me, “I know you by name, and, further, you have found favour with me.” 13   If I have indeed won thy favour, then teach me to know thy way, so that I can know thee and continue in favour with thee, for this nation is thy own people.’ 14   The Lord answered, ‘I will go with you in person and set your mind at rest.’ 15   Moses said to him, ‘Indeed if thou dost not go in person, do not send us up from here; 16   for how can it ever be known that I and thy people have found favour with thee, except by

Israel at Mount Sinai thy going with us? So shall we be distinct, I and thy people, from all the peoples ^note on earth.’ 17   The Lord said to Moses, ‘I will do this thing that you have asked, because you have found favour with me, and I know you by name.’

18    19   And Moses prayed, ‘Show me thy glory.’ The Lord answered, ‘I will make all my goodness ^note pass before you, and I will pronounce in your hearing the Name Jehovah. ^noteI will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.’ 20   But he added, ‘My face you cannot see, for no mortal man may see me and live.’ 21   The Lord said, ‘Here is a place beside me. Take your stand on the rock and when my glory passes by, 22   I will put you in a crevice of the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed by. 23   Then I will take away my hand, and you shall see my back, but my face shall not be seen.’

Previous section

Next section