1 Then Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Go from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt. Go to the land about which I made an oath to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, when I said, 'I will give it to your descendants.' 2 I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. 3 Go to that land, which is flowing with milk and honey, but I will not go up with you, because you are a stubborn people. I might destroy you on the way.” 4 When the people heard these troubling words, they mourned, and no one put on any jewelry. 5 Yahweh had said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, 'You are a stubborn people. If I went among you for even one moment, I would destroy you. So now, take off your jewelry so that I may decide what to do with you.'” 6 So the Israelites wore no jewelry from Mount Horeb onward. 7 Moses took a tent and pitched it outside the camp, some distance from the camp. He called it the tent of meeting. Everyone who asked Yahweh for anything went out to the tent of meeting, outside the camp. 8 When Moses would go out to the tent, all the people would stand up at their tent entrances and look at Moses until he had gone inside. 9 Whenever Moses entered the tent, the pillar of cloud would come down and stand at the tent entrance, and Yahweh would speak with Moses. 10 Whenever all the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the entrance to the tent, they would get up and worship, every man at his own tent entrance. 11 Yahweh would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp, but his servant Joshua son of Nun, a young man, would stay in the tent. 12 Moses said to Yahweh, “See, you have been saying to me, 'Take this people on their journey,' but you have not let me know whom you will send with me. You have said, 'I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my eyes.' 13 Now if I have found favor in your eyes, show me your ways so that I may know you and continue to find favor in your eyes. Remember that this nation is your people.” 14 Yahweh answered, “My own presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15 Moses said to him, “If your presence does not go with us, do not take us up from here. 16 For otherwise, how will it be known that I have found favor in your eyes, I and your people? Will it not only be if you go with us so that I and your people are different from all the other peoples that are on the surface of the earth?” 17 Yahweh said to Moses, “I will also do this thing that you have requested, for you have found favor in my eyes, and I know you by name.” 18 Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19 Yahweh said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim my name 'Yahweh' before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” 20 But Yahweh said, “You may not see my face, for no one can see me and live.” 21 Yahweh said, “See, here is a place by me; you will stand on this rock. 22 While my glory passes by, 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 will see my back, but my face will not be seen.”
Exodus · Unlocked Literal Bible
Exodus 33 Unlocked Literal Bible
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
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)