Exodus 33

The promise of God’s presence

12Moses said to the LORD, “Look, you tell me, ‘Bring these people up,’ but you have not told me whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have found favor in my eyes.’ 13Now, if I have found favor in your eyes, please make your ways known to me, so I may know you and continue to find favor in your eyes. Consider too that this nation is your people.”

14He answered, “My presence will go, and I will give you rest.” 15Moses replied, “If your presence does not go, do not bring us up from here. 16How else will anyone know that I and your people have found favor in your eyes? Only by your going with us will I and your people be set apart from every other people on the face of the ground.”

17The LORD told Moses, “I will do this too, just as you have asked, because you have found favor in my eyes and I know you by name.”

Moses asks to see God’s glory

18Moses said, “Please show me your glory.” 19He answered, “I will make all my goodness pass before you and proclaim the name ‘the LORD’ in your presence. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and I will show compassion to whom I will show compassion.” 20But he said, “You cannot see my face, for no human can see me and live.”

21The LORD said, “Here is a place beside me. Stand on the rock. 22When my glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft in the rock and cover you with my hand until I have passed. 23Then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back. But my face must not be seen.”