 1 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 that I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob saying, I will give it to your descendants. 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 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 on the way. 4 The people heard these evil tidings, and they mourned, and put no ornaments on themselves. 5 The Lord had said to Moses, Say to the children 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. Now take off your ornaments so that I may know what to do with you. 6 The children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments by Mount Horeb. 7 Moses took the tabernacle and pitched it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and called it the tabernacle of the congregation. Then everyone who sought the Lord went to the tabernacle of the congregation that was outside the camp. 8 As Moses went to the tabernacle, all the people rose and each man stood at his tent door and looked after Moses until he had gone into the tabernacle. 9 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 All the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the tabernacle door and all the people rose and worshiped, each one in his tent door. 11 The Lord would speak to Moses face to face as a man speaks to his friend, then 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 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 ask you, if I have found grace in your sight, make me to see your ways now so that I may know you and so that I may find grace in your sight, and consider that this nation is your people. 14 He said, my presence will go with you and I will give you rest. 15 He said to Him, If your presence does not go with me, do not carry us up from here. 16 In what way will it be known that I and your people have found grace in your sight? Is it not that you go with us? So we will be separated, I and your people, from all the people who are on the face of the earth. 17 The Lord said to Moses, I will do what you have spoken for you have found grace in my sight and I know you by name. 18 Moses said, I beseech you, let me see your glory. 19 The Lord said, I will make all my goodness pass before you and I will proclaim the name of the Lord before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious and will have mercy on whom I will have mercy. 20 You cannot see my presence+ because no one can see me and live. 21 There is a place near me and you shall stand upon a rock. 22 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 I will take away my hand and you will see my back, but my presence+ will not be seen.
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