Go to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way.”
Parallel Translations
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Go to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way.”
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Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way.
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unto a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou art a stiffnecked people; lest I consume thee in the way.'
Cross-references (27)
Passages linked to Exodus 33:3 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 32:9-10 Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people. Now therefore leave me alone, that my wrath may burn hot against them, and that I may consume them; and I will make of you a great nation.”
- Exodus 3:8 I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.
- Deuteronomy 9:6-13 Know therefore that Yahweh your God doesn’t give you this good land to possess for your righteousness, for you are a stiff-necked people. Remember, and don’t forget, how you provoked Yahweh your God to wrath in the wilderness. From the day that you left the land of Egypt until you came to this place, you have been rebellious against Yahweh. Also in Horeb you provoked Yahweh to wrath, and Yahweh was angry with you to destroy you. When I had gone up onto the mountain to receive the stone tablets, even the tablets of the covenant which Yahweh made with you, then I stayed on the mountain forty days and forty nights. I neither ate bread nor drank water. Yahweh delivered to me the two stone tablets written with God’s finger. On them were all the words which Yahweh spoke with you on the mountain out of the middle of the fire in the day of the assembly. It came to pass at the end of forty days and forty nights that Yahweh gave me the two stone tablets, even the tablets of the covenant. Yahweh said to me, “Arise, get down quickly from here; for your people whom you have brought out of Egypt have corrupted themselves. They have quickly turned away from the way which I commanded them. They have made a molten image for themselves!” Furthermore Yahweh spoke to me, saying, “I have seen this people, and behold, it is a stiff-necked people.
- Acts 7:51 “You stiff-necked and uncircumcised in heart and ears, you always resist the Holy Spirit! As your fathers did, so you do.
- Exodus 33:15-17 Moses said to him, “If your presence doesn’t go with me, don’t carry us up from here. For how would people know that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Isn’t it that you go with us, so that we are separated, I and your people, from all the people who are on the surface of the earth?” Yahweh said to Moses, “I will do this thing also that you have spoken; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”
- Jeremiah 11:5 that I may establish the oath which I swore to your fathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey,’ as it is today.” Then I answered, and said, “Amen, Yahweh.”
- Numbers 16:21 “Separate yourselves from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!”
- Numbers 16:45 “Get away from among this congregation, that I may consume them in a moment!” They fell on their faces.
- Joshua 5:6 For the children of Israel walked forty years in the wilderness until all the nation, even the men of war who came out of Egypt, were consumed, because they didn’t listen to Yahweh’s voice. Yahweh swore to them that he wouldn’t let them see the land which Yahweh swore to their fathers that he would give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
- Ezekiel 33:13-16 When I tell the righteous that he will surely live; if he trusts in his righteousness, and commits iniquity, none of his righteous deeds will be remembered; but he will die in his iniquity that he has committed. Again, when I say to the wicked, “You will surely die;” if he turns from his sin, and does that which is lawful and right; if the wicked restore the pledge, give again that which he had taken by robbery, walk in the statutes of life, committing no iniquity; he will surely live. He will not die. None of his sins that he has committed will be remembered against him. He has done that which is lawful and right. He will surely live.
- Amos 3:13-14 “Listen, and testify against the house of Jacob,” says the Lord Yahweh, the God of Armies. “For in the day that I visit the transgressions of Israel on him, I will also visit the altars of Bethel; and the horns of the altar will be cut off, and fall to the ground.
- Exodus 13:5 It shall be, when Yahweh brings you into the land of the Canaanite, and the Hittite, and the Amorite, and the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which he swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, that you shall keep this service in this month.
- Exodus 23:21 Pay attention to him, and listen to his voice. Don’t provoke him, for he will not pardon your disobedience, for my name is in him.
- Exodus 32:14 So Yahweh turned away from the evil which he said he would do to his people.
- Exodus 34:9 He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go among us, even though this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”
- Leviticus 20:24 But I have said to you, “You shall inherit their land, and I will give it to you to possess it, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am Yahweh your God, who has separated you from the peoples.
- Numbers 13:27 They told him, and said, “We came to the land where you sent us. Surely it flows with milk and honey, and this is its fruit.
- Numbers 14:8 If Yahweh delights in us, then he will bring us into this land, and give it to us: a land which flows with milk and honey.
- Numbers 14:12 I will strike them with the pestilence, and disinherit them, and will make of you a nation greater and mightier than they.”
- Numbers 16:13 Is it a small thing that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey, to kill us in the wilderness, but you must also make yourself a prince over us?
- Deuteronomy 32:26-27 I said that I would scatter them afar. I would make their memory to cease from among men; were it not that I feared the provocation of the enemy, lest their adversaries should judge wrongly, lest they should say, ‘Our hand is exalted, Yahweh has not done all this.’ ”
- 1 Samuel 2:30 “Therefore Yahweh, the God of Israel, says, ‘I said indeed that your house and the house of your father should walk before me forever.’ But now Yahweh says, ‘Far be it from me; for those who honor me I will honor, and those who despise me will be cursed.
- Psalms 78:8 and might not be as their fathers, a stubborn and rebellious generation, a generation that didn’t make their hearts loyal, whose spirit was not steadfast with God.
- Jeremiah 18:7-10 At the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to pluck up and to break down and to destroy it; if that nation, concerning which I have spoken, turns from their evil, I will repent of the evil that I thought to do to them. At the instant I speak concerning a nation, and concerning a kingdom, to build and to plant it; if they do that which is evil in my sight, that they not obey my voice, then I will repent of the good with which I said I would benefit them.
- Ezekiel 3:18-19 When I tell the wicked, ‘You will surely die;’ and you give him no warning, nor speak to warn the wicked from his wicked way, to save his life; that wicked man will die in his iniquity; but I will require his blood at your hand. Yet if you warn the wicked, and he doesn’t turn from his wickedness, nor from his wicked way, he will die in his iniquity; but you have delivered your soul.”
- Jonah 3:4 Jonah began to enter into the city a day’s journey, and he cried out, and said, “In forty days, Nineveh will be overthrown!”
- Jonah 3:10 God saw their works, that they turned from their evil way. God relented of the disaster which he said he would do to them, and he didn’t do it.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (12 sources)
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John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Exo 33:3 Unto a land flowing with milk and…
Exo 33:3 Unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee; for thou [art] a stiffnecked people: lest I consume thee in the way.
Ver. 3. I will not go up,] sc., By those visible signs of my gracious presence as heretofore.
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain I will not go up in the midst of…
I will not go up in the midst of thee by my own special and gracious presence, as hitherto I have done, but I will depart from thee. In pursuance hereof God removes his tabernacle without the camp, Exo 33:7. I will only make good my promise to thy fathers, and send an angel to accomplish it, but I will show no peculiar and further kindness to thee.
Lest I consume thee in the way; lest thy sins should be aggravated by my presence and favour, and thereby I should be provoked utterly to destroy thee. So he shows that their perverseness makes this severity necessary for them, and that God even in his judgment remembers mercy to them.
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 Unto a land flowing with milk and honey,.... Abounding…
Unto a land flowing with milk and honey,.... Abounding with all the necessaries and good things of life, a description of the land of Canaan frequently made, see Exo 3:8,
for I will not go up in the midst of thee; would not grant them his presence in so near, visible, and respectable a manner as he had before done, though he would not utterly forsake them: the tabernacle was before in the midst of the camp, that is, that which was erected until the large one, ordered to be made, was finished, but now it was removed without the camp, Exo 33:7.
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for thou art a stiffnecked people; See Gill on Exo 32:9,
lest I consume them in the way; in the way to the land of Canaan, and so never get there; the meaning is, that the Lord being in the midst of them, their sin would be the more aggravated to be committed in his presence, before his face; and the glory of his majesty would require that immediate notice be taken of it, and just punishment inflicted; so that by this step God both consulted his own honour and their safety.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 3. I will not go up in the…
Verse 3. I will not go up in the midst of thee] Consequently, the angel here promised to be their guide was not that angel in whom Jehovah's name was: and so the people understood it; hence the mourning which is afterwards mentioned.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Exo 33:3. I will not go up in the…
Exo 33:3. I will not go up in the midst of thee — By my own special and gracious presence, as hitherto I have done, but I will depart from thee. In pursuance hereof, God removes his tabernacle without the camp. I will only make good my promise to thy fathers, and send an angel to accomplish it, but I will show no particular and further kindness to thee. Lest I consume thee in the way — Lest thy sins should be aggravated by my presence and favour, and thereby I should be provoked utterly to destroy thee. So God shows that their perverseness makes this severity necessary for them, and that he, even in his judgment, remembers mercy to them.
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 I will not go: "in majesty" (Chaldean) and "brightness,"…
I will not go: "in majesty" (Chaldean) and "brightness," Arabic. The angel shall go in his own name, and shall not perform such great miracles. My tabernacle shall be removed to a respectful distance, lest, not being able to endure the barefaced impiety of the people, I slay you in my fury. God addresses Moses, as the representative of the nation, (Menochius) and adopts the language of men, appearing as a king, who cannot bear to be insulted to his face. (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).
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain I will not go up . . . lest…
I will not go up . . . lest I consume thee--Here the Lord is represented as determined to do what He afterwards did not. (See on Exo 32:7).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 3. I will not go up in the midst…
3. I will not go up in the midst of thee — This distinction between Jehovah and his Angel is not inconsistent with our doctrine of the Angel of Jehovah, as set forth in note on Gen_16:7. But Jehovah’s Angel might not at all times so bear his name (Exo_23:21) or exhibit his power as to be a consuming fire in the midst of Israel. He was rather of the nature of a mediator between Moses and Jehovah, and the statement of this verse is designed to enhance the infinite holiness of God. The hardness of the people’s heart is such that some consideration may be shown, (comp. Mat_19:8,) but the demands of infinite holiness are such that Jehovah here represents himself as withdrawing from the stiffnecked people, lest the immediate gaze of his holy eye consume them in the way. The whole manner of thought is anthropomorphic, for how else could such conceptions be then conveyed to such a sinful people? The mediating Angel may show mercy when holy wrath would destroy; and Israel may have an angel like other nations, (comp. Dan_10:13,) but lose the special presence of Jehovah himself.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 3. a land flowing, &c.] See on Exo_3:8.
3. a land flowing, &c.] See on Exo_3:8.
in the midst of] v. 5, Exo_17:7, Exo_34:9, Num_11:20; Num_14:14; Num_14:42.
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a stiffnecked people] Exo_32:9.
lest I consume thee, &c.] in consequence of some outburst of wilfulness or rebellion on thy part.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (3) A land flowing with milk and honey.—See Note…
(3) A land flowing with milk and honey.—See Note on Exo_3:8.
Lest I consume thee.—Comp. Exo_32:10; Lev_10:2; Ps. 88:21, 31, &c. “God is a consuming fire” (Heb_12:29). His near presence, if it does not cleanse and purify, scorches and withers. The conduct of Israel in the wilderness was such as continually to provoke Him to destroy them; and but for His amazing compassion and forbearance, the result here glanced at would assuredly have followed.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain Unto a land. Ver. 2 is parenthetic, and ver.…
Unto a land. Ver. 2 is parenthetic, and ver. 3 coheres with ver. 1 up hence, thou and the people, unto the land which I sware unto Abraham unto a land flowing," etc. On the milk and honey of Canaan, see the comment upon Exo_3:8. For I will not go up in the midst of thee. At length there was an end of ambiguity God"s purpose was made plain the people had shown themselves unfit for his near presence, and he would withdraw himself. So it would be best even for them; since, if they were about to show- themselves as perverse in the future as they had in the past, his near presence could only lead to their entire destruction. Some day they would so provoke him, that he would consume them in the way.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 33:3 land that flows with milk and honey: Although…
33:3 land that flows with milk and honey: Although Canaan was not as fertile as the Nile Valley in Egypt, it was a great deal more productive agriculturally than the Sinai Desert where they were. • stubborn and rebellious: They were covenant-breakers. • I would surely destroy you: As the Covenant Lord (see study note on 23:20-33), he would enforce the terms of the covenant that called for the destruction of covenant-breakers (see 24:7-8 and study notes).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.