And the LORD spoke to Moses: “Go, go up from here — you and the people whom you brought up from the land of Egypt — to the land that I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob: ‘To your seed I will give it.’
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 —
to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go up in your midst — for you are a stiff-necked people — or I might consume you on the way.”
And the people heard this evil word, and they mourned; and no one put on his ornaments.
And the LORD said to Moses, “Say to the sons of Israel: ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If for a single moment I went up in your midst, I would finish you off. And now, take your ornaments off you, and I will know what to do with you.’”
And the sons of Israel stripped off their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward.
The Tent of Meeting
Now Moses would take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far from the camp; and he called it the Tent of Meeting. And everyone seeking the LORD would go out to the Tent of Meeting, which was outside the camp.
And it would happen, when Moses went out to the tent, that all the people would rise and station themselves, each at the door of his own tent, and gaze after Moses until he entered the tent.
And it would happen, when Moses entered the tent, that the pillar of cloud would come down and stand at the door of the tent — and he would speak with Moses.
And all the people would see the pillar of cloud standing at the door of the tent; and all the people would rise and bow down, each at the door of his own tent.
And the LORD would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his neighbor. And he would return to the camp; but his attendant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, did not depart from the midst of the tent.
The Promise of God’s Presence
And Moses said to the LORD, “See — you say to me, ‘Bring this people up,’ but you yourself have not let me know whom you will send with me. And you yourself have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my eyes.’
And now, if I have indeed found favor in your eyes, make known to me, please, your ways, and let me know you, so that I may find favor in your eyes. And see — this nation is your people.”
And he said, “My presence will go, and I will give you rest.”
And he said to him, “If your presence does not go, do not bring us up from here.
For how then shall it be known that I have found favor in your eyes — I and your people? Is it not by your going with us, so that we are set apart, I and your people, from every people that is on the face of the ground?”
And the LORD said to Moses, “This thing also, of which you have spoken, I will do — for you have found favor in my eyes, and I know you by name.”
And he said, “Show me, please, your glory.”
And he said, “I myself will make all my goodness pass before your face, and I will proclaim the name of the LORD before your face; and I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show compassion to whom I will show compassion.”
And he said, “You cannot see my face — for no man can see me and live.”
And the LORD said, “Look — there is a place with me, and you shall station yourself on the rock.
And it shall be, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and I will cover you with my palm until I have passed by.
And I will take away my palm, and you shall see my back — but my face shall not be seen.”
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