1 ¶ Then the LORD said to Moses, Depart, leave this place, you and the people that you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, and go to the land that I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, I will give it to your offspring:

2 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:

3 To a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in your midst; for you are a stiffnecked people: lest I destroy you on the way.

4 And when the people heard this bad news, they mourned: and no one wore his ornaments.

5 For the LORD had said to Moses, Tell the children of Israel, You are a stubborn people: if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would destroy you: therefore now put away your ornaments, that I may know what to do with you.

6 And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments from mount Horeb onward.

7 ¶ And Moses took the tabernacle, and pitched it outside the camp, far off from the camp, and called it the Tabernacle of the congregation. And it came to pass, that every one who sought the LORD went out to the tabernacle of the congregation, which was outside the camp.

8 And when Moses went out to the tabernacle, all the people rose, and everyone stood at his tent door, and watched Moses, until he had entered the tabernacle.

9 And it came to pass, as Moses entered the tabernacle, the cloudy pillar descended, and stood at the door of the tabernacle, and the LORD talked with Moses.

10 And all the people saw the cloudy pillar stand at the tabernacle door: and all the people rose and worshipped, every man at his tent door.

11 And the LORD spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. And he returned to the camp: but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, did not leave the tabernacle.

12 ¶ And Moses said to the LORD, You are saying to me, Lead this people: but you have not let me know 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 pray you, if I have found favor in your sight, let me know your way, that I may understand you, that I may continue to find favor in your sight: and consider also that this nation is your people.

14 And the Lord said, My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.

15 And Moses said to the Lord, If your presence does not go with us, do not make us leave here.

16 For how shall it be known that I and your people have found grace in your sight? is it not in your going with us? so that we are set apart, I and your people, from all the people who are on the face of the earth.

17 And the LORD said to Moses, I will do this thing also that you have asked: for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.

18 And Moses said, I beseech you, show me your glory.

19 And the Lord said, I will make all my goodness pass before you, and I will proclaim the name Jahweh before you; and 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 no man shall see me, and live.

21 And the LORD said, Behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand upon a rock:

22 And it shall come to pass, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand while I pass by:

23 And I will take away my hand, and you will see my back: but my face must not be seen.