then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back; but my face shall not be seen.”
Parallel Translations
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then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back; but my face shall not be seen.”
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And I will take away mine hand, and thou shalt see my back parts: but my face shall not be seen.
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And I will take away My hand, and thou shalt see My back; but My face shall not be seen.'
Examined in Scripture Analysis
Contradictions (2)
Questions where the Bible appears to say two different things, with the passages on each side set together.
Cross-references (6)
Passages linked to Exodus 33:23 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 33:20 He said, “You cannot see my face, for man may not see me and live.”
- John 1:18 No one has seen God at any time. The one and only Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has declared him.
- Job 11:7 “Can you fathom the mystery of God? Or can you probe the limits of the Almighty?
- 1 Timothy 6:16 He alone has immortality, dwelling in unapproachable light, whom no man has seen, nor can see: to whom be honor and eternal power. Amen.
- Job 26:14 Behold, these are but the outskirts of his ways. How small a whisper do we hear of him! But the thunder of his power who can understand?”
- 1 Corinthians 13:12 For now we see in a mirror, dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part, but then I will know fully, even as I was also fully known.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (7 sources)
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Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain So much of my glory as in this mortal…
So much of my glory as in this mortal life thou art able to see.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain My back parts, i.e. imperfectly and in part, as…
My back parts, i.e. imperfectly and in part, as when we see only a man’s back parts, and not his face. Thou shalt see a shadow or obscure delineation of my glory, as much as thou canst bear, though not as much as thou dost desire.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And I will take away mine hand,.... As being…
And I will take away mine hand,.... As being covered with the hand may signify the obscurity of the former dispensation, the taking of it away may denote a more clear revelation of the grace and goodness of God in Christ, and so of the glory of it under the Gospel dispensation; and yet what is seen in this, in comparison of the reality of things as they are, or of the heavenly state, are but as next expressed:
and thou shalt see my back parts; which some understand of the humanity of Christ, and his sufferings in it, sometimes expressed by his heel, and the bruising of it, Gen 3:15 or else the works of God in creation, by which the invisible things of God are seen, and which give a knowledge of him "a posteriori"; and so Maimonides (d) interprets the phrase, which follow me, flow from my will, i.e. all my creatures: or rather it denotes the imperfect knowledge of God in the present state, even as revealed in Christ, in whom there are the clearest and brightest displays of his glory; yet this, in comparison of the beatific sight of him, is but like seeing a man that is gone by, whose back is only to be seen:
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but my face shall not be seen; in the present state, the face of God, that is, his favour, communion with him, and the light of his countenance, are to be sought for, and may be enjoyed; the glory of himself is to be seen in the face or person of Christ, and the glory of that face or person is to be seen in the glass of the Gospel, but at present imperfectly; God in Christ as he is, the fullest and brightest displays of his glory, grace, and goodness, are reserved to another state, see Co1 13:9 or it may regard the divine nature of Christ, which could not be seen by Moses, but his back parts, or human; Christ as clothed with flesh might, and would be seen by him, as he was seen by him on the mount, Mat 17:3.
(d) Moreh Nevochim, par. 1. c. 38.
Next: Exodus Chapter 34
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain And I will take away my hand - Speaking…
And I will take away my hand - Speaking after the manner of men. And thou shalt see my back-parts - The face in man is the seat of majesty, and men are known by their faces, in them we take a full view of men; that sight of God Moses might not have, but such a sight as we have of a man who is gone past us, so that we only see his back. Now Moses was allowed to see this only, but when he was a witness to Christ's transfiguration, he saw his face shine as the sun.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Exo 33:23. I will take away my hand —…
Exo 33:23. I will take away my hand — Speaking after the manner of men: As soon as the dazzling splendours of my majesty, termed, my face, which it is impossible for man to behold and live, are passed by, I will, by degrees, withdraw the cloud that limited and concealed those splendours, and thou shalt see my back parts, or those rays of my glory which are not too bright and piercing for mortal eyes to sustain. To explain this further, the face in man is the seat of majesty, and men are known by their faces; in them we take a full view of men: that sight of God Moses might not have, but such a sight as we have of a man who is gone past us, so that we only see his back. Now Moses was allowed to see this only; but when he was a witness to Christ’s transfiguration, he saw his face shine as the sun.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain See my back parts. The Lord, by his angel,…
See my back parts. The Lord, by his angel, usually spoke to Moses in the pillar of the cloud, so that he could not see the glory of Him that spoke familiarly with him. In the vision here mentioned, he was allowed to see something of Him, in an assumed corporeal form: not in the face, the rays of which were too bright for mortal eye to bear, but to view Him as it were behind, when his face was turned from him. (Challoner) --- Thus our curiosity is repressed. (Du Hamel) --- Servius observes, on Virgil, that the "gods mostly declare themselves by suddenly disappearing. They will shew their faces." (Iliad. N. Grotius) --- The rock was Christ, (Du Hamel) in whose sacred humanity we discern, at a distance, the majesty of God. (St. Augustine, q. 154.) Moses saw the hinder parts of God, or what should happen to Jesus Christ in the latter days of the synagogue. (Origen, hom. 12.) By this wonderful vision, God was pleased to declare that he was appeased. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Thou shalt see my back parts. Literally, "my back."…
Thou shalt see my back parts. Literally, "my back." The anthropomorphisms of the passage are numerous and strong they must, of course, be regarded as accommodations to human ideas. After the Divine Presence had passed by, Moses was to be permitted to look out, and would see so much of the Divine glory as he would be able to bear; but still something far short of that which he had desired to see. The explanation that "the back of God" means "his works the consequences of his activity" (Kalisch) is fanciful, and not borne out by the context. My face cannot be seen. See above, ver. 20; and. compare Joh_1:18; 1Ti_1:17; 1Jn_4:12.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.