1And then the LORD said to Moses, “Leave here, you and the people you have brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land which I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants’ 2And I will send an angel before you; and I will drive out the Canaanite, Amorite, Hittite, Perizzite, Hivite, and the Jebusite: 3To a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up with you; for you are a stiff-necked people, and I might destroy you along the way.” 4And when the people heard these stern words, they mourned; and no one wore any ornaments. 5For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people: I will come up into the middle of you in a moment, and destroy you; so take off your ornaments, while I decide what to do with you.’” 6And so Israelites wore no jewelry after they left Mount Horeb.

7And it was Moses’ practice to set up the tabernacle outside the camp, far from the camp, and called it the Tent of Meeting for use by the congregation. And then, everyone who sought the LORD would go outside the camp to the tabernacle of meeting. 8And when Moses went out to the tabernacle, all the people arose, and stood at the entrance to their tents, and watched Moses, until he had entered the tabernacle. 9And as Moses entered the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar would descend, and stay at the entrance of the tabernacle, while the LORD talked with Moses. 10And whenever the people saw the cloudy pillar standing at the tabernacle entrance, everyone arose and worshipped, each from the entrances to their tent. 11And the LORD spoke to Moses, face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. Then Moses would return to the camp: but his servant Joshua, son of Nun, a young man, would remain in the tabernacle.

12And Moses said to the LORD, “You have been telling me to ‘Lead these people’, but You have not told me whom You will send with me. You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My sight.’ 13So, if, indeed, I have found grace in Your sight, I pray You, teach me now Your ways, so that I may know You, and continue to find grace in Your sight. And remember that this nation is Your people.” 14And the LORD said, “My Presence shall go with you, and I will give you rest.” 15And Moses said, “If Your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 16For how shall anyone here know that I and Your people have found grace in Your sight? Is it not in that Your Presence goes with us, that we are set apart - I and Your people - from all the other people on the face of the earth?” 17And the LORD said to Moses, “I will do the very thing that you have asked; for you have found grace in My sight, and I know you by name.”

18And Moses said, “I beg You, show me Your glory.” 19And the LORD said, “I will cause all My glory to 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 show mercy, and compassion on whomever I will have compassion. 20But,” He said, “You cannot see My face; for no man shall see Me, and live.” 21And then LORD said, “Look, there is a place near Me, where you may stand upon a rock: 22And, when My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with My hand as I pass by; 23And then I will take My hand away, and you shall see My back; but My face must not be seen.”