Exodus · Bible in Basic English
Exodus 33 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 And the Lord said to Moses, Go forward from this place, you and the people whom you have taken up out of the land of Egypt, to that land about which I made an oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, To your seed will I give it.
1 Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people that you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’
2 And I will send an angel before you, driving out the Canaanite and the Amorite and the Hittite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite:
2 I will send an angel before you; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
3 Go up to that land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, for fear that I send destruction on you while you are on the way.
3 Go to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way.”
4 Hearing this bad news the people were full of grief, and no one put on his ornaments.
4 When the people heard this evil news, they mourned; and no one put on his jewelry.
5 And the Lord said to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, You are a stiff-necked people: if I come among you, even for a minute, I will send destruction on you; so take off all your ornaments, so that I may see what to do with you.
5 Yahweh had said to Moses, “Tell the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go up among you for one moment, I would consume you. Therefore now take off your jewelry from you, that I may know what to do to you.’”
6 So the children of Israel took off their ornaments at Mount Horeb, and did not put them on again.
6 The children of Israel stripped themselves of their jewelry from Mount Horeb onward.
7 Now it was Moses' way to put up the Tent of meeting outside the tent-circle, at some distance away; giving it the name of The Tent of meeting. And everyone desiring to make his prayer to the Lord went to the Tent of meeting outside the tent-circle.
7 Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far away from the camp, and he called it “The Tent of Meeting.” Everyone who sought Yahweh went out to the Tent of Meeting, which was outside the camp.
8 And whenever Moses went out to the Tent of meeting, all the people got up and everyone went to the door of his tent, looking after Moses till he went inside the Tent.
8 When Moses went out to the Tent, all the people rose up, and stood, everyone at their tent door, and watched Moses, until he had gone into the Tent.
9 And whenever Moses went into the Tent, the pillar of cloud came down, and took its place by the door of the Tent, as long as the Lord was talking with Moses.
9 When Moses entered into the Tent, the pillar of cloud descended, stood at the door of the Tent, and Yahweh spoke with Moses.
10 And all the people saw the cloud at the door of the Tent, and they went down on their faces, everyone at the door of his tent.
10 All the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the door of the Tent, and all the people rose up and worshiped, everyone at their tent door.
11 And the Lord had talk with Moses face to face, as a man may have talk with his friend. And when Moses came back to the tents, his servant, the young man Joshua, the son of Nun, did not come away from the Tent.
11 Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. He turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, didn’t depart from the Tent.
12 And Moses said to the Lord, See, you say to me, Be this people's guide on their journey, but you have not made clear to me whom you will send with me. But you have said, I have knowledge of you by name, and you have grace in my eyes.
12 Moses said to Yahweh, “Behold, you tell me, ‘Bring up this people;’ and you haven’t let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’
13 If then I have grace in your eyes, let me see your ways, so that I may have knowledge of you and be certain of your grace; and my prayer is that you will keep in mind that this nation is your people.
13 Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me your way, now, that I may know you, so that I may find favor in your sight; and consider that this nation is your people.”
14 And he said, I myself will go with you and give you rest.
14 He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15 And Moses said, If you yourself are not going with us, do not send us on from here.
15 Moses said to him, “If your presence doesn’t go with me, don’t carry us up from here.
16 For is not the fact of your going with us the sign that I and this people have grace in your eyes, so that we, that is, I and your people, are separate from all other people on the face of the earth?
16 For how would people know that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Isn’t it that you go with us, so that we are separated, I and your people, from all the people who are on the surface of the earth?”
17 And the Lord said to Moses, I will do as you say: for you have grace in my eyes, and I have knowledge of you by your name.
17 Yahweh said to Moses, “I will do this thing also that you have spoken; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”
18 And Moses said, O Lord, let me see your glory.
18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”
19 And he said, I will make all the light of my being come before you, and will make clear to you what I am; I will be kind to those to whom I will be kind, and have mercy on those on whom I will have mercy.
19 He said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim Yahweh’s name before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.”
20 But it is not possible for you to see my face, for no man may see me and still go on living.
20 He said, “You cannot see my face, for man may not see me and live.”
21 And the Lord said, See, there is a place near me, and you may take your place on the rock:
21 Yahweh also said, “Behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand on the rock.
22 And when my glory goes by, I will put you in a hole in the rock, covering you with my hand till I have gone past:
22 It will happen, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by;
23 Then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back: but my face is not to be seen.
23 then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back; but my face shall not be seen.”
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Joshua
The Ephraimite son of Nun, originally named Hoshea, who led Israel against Amalek at Rephidim, served as Moses' attendant, was one of the two faithful spies, and was commissioned…
Cited in the guide: Exodus 17:9; Exodus 33:11; Numbers 13:16
Moses
Drawn from the Nile, he led Israel out of Egypt and received God's Law.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2–Deuteronomy 34
Nun
The father of Joshua, whom Moses named from among the tribe of Ephraim; 1 Chronicles 7:26-27 places him in Ephraim's line after Elishama.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 33:11; Numbers 13:8; Numbers 13:16
Cross references (23)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Genesis 12:7; Exodus 32:13; Genesis 22:16–18; Genesis 26:3; Exodus 32:7
- 2 Joshua 24:11; Exodus 32:34; Exodus 3:8; Exodus 23:20; Exodus 23:27–31
- 3 Exodus 32:9–10; Exodus 3:8; Acts 7:51; Deuteronomy 9:6–13; Exodus 33:15–17
- 4 Numbers 14:39; Leviticus 10:6; Numbers 14:1; Ezekiel 24:17; Ezekiel 24:23
- 5 Deuteronomy 8:2; Exodus 33:3–4; Numbers 16:21; Numbers 16:45–46; Psalm 139:23
- 6 Exodus 33:4; Exodus 32:3; Jeremiah 2:19
- 7 Isaiah 55:6–7; Proverbs 15:29; Exodus 29:42–43; Isaiah 59:2; Deuteronomy 4:29
- 8 Numbers 16:27
- 9 Psalm 99:7; Genesis 18:33; Exodus 31:18; Ezekiel 3:22; Exodus 25:22
- 10 Exodus 4:31; 1 Kings 8:22; Luke 18:13; 1 Kings 8:14
- 11 Numbers 12:8; Deuteronomy 34:10; Exodus 24:13; Exodus 33:9; John 15:14–15
- 12 Exodus 33:17; John 10:14–15; 2 Timothy 2:19; Exodus 32:34; Jeremiah 1:5
- 13 Psalm 119:33; Psalm 25:4; Psalm 27:11; Psalm 86:11; Deuteronomy 9:26
- 14 Matthew 11:28; Joshua 1:5; Joshua 21:44; Isaiah 63:9; Hebrews 4:8–9
- 15 Exodus 34:9; Psalm 4:6; Exodus 33:3
- 16 Deuteronomy 4:7; Numbers 14:14; 1 Kings 8:53; Matthew 1:23; Exodus 34:10
- 17 Isaiah 65:24; 1 John 5:14–15; Exodus 33:12; Genesis 19:21; Genesis 6:8
- 18 Revelation 21:23; Titus 2:13; Exodus 33:20; 1 Timothy 6:16; 2 Corinthians 4:6
- 19 Romans 9:15–18; Ephesians 1:6–8; Jeremiah 31:14; Jeremiah 31:12; Isaiah 7:14
- 20 Genesis 32:30; John 1:18; 1 Timothy 6:16; Isaiah 6:5; Judges 13:22
- 21 Zechariah 3:7; Deuteronomy 5:31; Isaiah 56:5; Joshua 20:4; Luke 15:1
- 22 Psalm 91:1; Isaiah 2:21; Psalm 91:4; 1 Corinthians 10:4; Psalm 18:2
- 23 John 1:18; Exodus 33:20; 1 Corinthians 13:12; 1 Timothy 6:16; Job 11:7
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
But when My splendour shall pass by, then thou shalt see My back parts, but My face thou shalt not see: for no man sees My face, and shall live." Two facts are thus signified: that it is impossible for man to see God; and that, through the wisdom of God, man shall see Him in the last times, in …
For, though Moses conversed with God, yet he said, "If I have found grace in Thy sight, show me Thyself, that I may see and know Thee." And as it was fit that the law, which was given, not to one man or a few enlightened men, but to the whole of a populous nation, should be accompanied by awe-inspiring …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
Now if the sight of the likeness of the glory brought fear and distress upon the prophets, any one who should attempt to behold God Himself would to a certainty lose his life, according to the saying, No man shall see My face and live.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 7 (1894)
Accordingly we find the Psalmist, even in reference to God, saying "Be Thou to me a champion God and a strong place to save me" and concerning the Spirit "behold there is place by me, and stand upon a rock." Plainly meaning the place or contemplation in the Spirit wherein, after Moses had entered thither, he was able to see …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 2, vol. 8 (1895)
For thou hast it plainly stated in the law: "And Moses spake with the Lord face to face, as a friend with his friend." Following the same scripture, thou findest Moses saying: "If I have found grace in Thy sight, show me Thyself plainly, that I may see Thee." And it is little that he said this: he received the …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)