1 And the LORD said to Moses, Come, go up from here, you and the people whom you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, To your seed I will give it.
2 And 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 to a land flowing [with] milk and honey. For I will not go up in the midst of you, for you [are] a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you in the way.
4 And the people heard these evil tidings, and they mourned, and put no ornaments on themselves.
5 And the LORD had said to Moses, Say to the sons of Israel, You [are] a stiff-necked people. I will come up into the midst of you in a moment, and I will consume you. And now put off your ornaments from you, that I may know what to do with you.
6 And the sons of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb.
7 And Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it outside the camp, afar off from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of the congregation. And it happened, everyone who sought the LORD went out to the tabernacle of the congregation, which was] outside the camp.
8 And it happened as Moses went out to the tabernacle, all the people rose up, and each man stood [at] his tent door and looked after Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle.
9 And it happened as Moses went into the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended and stood [at] the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD spoke with Moses.
10 And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand [at] the tabernacle door. And all the people rose up and worshiped, each man in his tent door.
11 And the LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he turned again to the camp. But his servant, Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the middle of the tabernacle.
12 And Moses said to the LORD, Behold, You say to me, Bring up this people. And You have not told me whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.
13 Now therefore, I pray You, if I have found grace in Your sight, make me see now Your ways, that I may know You, that I may find grace in Your sight. And consider that this nation [is] Your people.
14 And He said, My presence shall go [with you], and I will give you rest.
15 And he said to Him, If Your presence does not go [with me], do not carry us up from here.
16 For in what shall it be known that I and Your people have found grace in Your sight? [Is it] not in that You go with us? So we shall be separated, I and Your people, from all the people that [are] upon the face of the earth.
17 And the LORD said to Moses, I will do this thing also that you have spoken. For you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.
18 And he said, I beseech You, let me see Your glory.
19 And He said, I will make all My goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before you. And I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.
20 And He said, You cannot see My face. For there no man can see Me and live.
21 And the LORD said, Behold! [There is] a place by Me, and you shall stand upon a rock.
22 And it will be, while My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand while I pass by.
23 And I will take away My hand, and you shall see My back parts. But My face shall not be seen.