[1] The LORD said to Moses, "Depart, go up hence, you and the people whom
you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore
to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying, `To your descendants I will give it.'
[2] And I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the
Canaanites, the Amorites, the Hittites, the Per'izzites, the Hivites, and
the Jeb'usites. [3] Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will
not go up among you, lest I consume you in the way, for you are a
stiff-necked people." [4] When the people heard these evil tidings, they
mourned; and no man put on his ornaments. [5] For the LORD had said to
Moses, "Say to the people of Israel, `You are a stiff-necked people; if for
a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now put
off your ornaments from you, that I may know what to do with you.'" [6]
Therefore the people of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments, from
Mount Horeb onward. [7] Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it
outside the camp, far off from the camp; and he called it the tent of
meeting. And every one who sought the LORD would go out to the tent of
meeting, which was outside the camp. [8] Whenever Moses went out to the
tent, all the people rose up, and every man stood at his tent door, and
looked after Moses, until he had gone into the tent. [9] When Moses entered
the tent, the pillar of cloud would descend and stand at the door of the
tent, and the LORD would speak with Moses. [10] And when all the people saw
the pillar of cloud standing at the door of the tent, all the people would
rise up and worship, every man at his tent door. [11] Thus the LORD used to
speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. When Moses
turned again into the camp, his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man,
did not depart from the tent. [12] Moses said to the LORD, "See, thou
sayest to me, `Bring up this people'; but thou hast not let me know whom
thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, `I know you by name, and you
have also found favor in my sight.' [13] Now therefore, I pray thee, if I
have found favor in thy sight, show me now thy ways, that I may know thee
and find favor in thy sight. Consider too that this nation is thy people."
[14] And he said, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest."
[15] And he said to him, "If thy presence will not go with me, do not carry
us up from here. [16] For how shall it be known that I have found favor in
thy sight, I and thy people? Is it not in thy going with us, so that we are
distinct, I and thy people, from all other people that are upon the face of
the earth?" [17] And the LORD said to Moses, "This very thing that you have
spoken I will do; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by
name." [18] Moses said, "I pray thee, show me thy glory." [19] And he said,
"I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim before you
my name `The LORD'; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and
will show mercy on whom I will show mercy. [20] But," he said, "you cannot
see my face; for man shall not see me and live." [21] And the LORD said,
"Behold, there is a place by me where you shall stand upon the rock; [22]
and while my glory passes by I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I
will 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."
