New International Version
Exodus 33:3
3Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”
Exodus 33:3 in other versions
- King James Version (KJV)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.
- English Standard Version (ESV)Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people."
- New King James Version (NKJV)Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in your midst, lest I consume you on the way, for you are a stiff-necked people.”
- New Living Translation (NLT)Go up to this land that flows with milk and honey. But I will not travel among you, for you are a stubborn and rebellious people. If I did, I would surely destroy you along the way.”
Context of Exodus 33:3
1Then the Lord said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of Egypt, and go up to the land I promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’ 2I will send an angel before you and drive out the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites. Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.” 4When the people heard these distressing words, they began to mourn and no one put on any ornaments. 5For the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I might destroy you. Now take off your ornaments and I will decide what to do with you.’ ”
Read all of Exodus 33Exodus 33:3 word by word
אֶל־אֶ֛רֶץ זָבַ֥ת חָלָ֖ב וּדְבָ֑שׁ כִּי֩ לֹ֨א אֶֽעֱלֶ֜ה בְּקִרְבְּךָ֗ כִּ֤י עַם־קְשֵׁה־עֹ֙רֶף֙ אַ֔תָּה פֶּן־אֲכֶלְךָ֖ בַּדָּֽרֶךְ׃Read the interlinear
Words taken from the KJV.
- Unto a landאֶ֫רֶץ'erets · land: country/planetH776
- flowingזוּבzûb · to flow: flowingH2100
- with milkחָלָבchâlâb · milkH2461
- and honeyדְּבַשׁdebash · honeyH1706
- for I will not go upעָלָה‛âlâh · to ascend: riseH5927
- in the midstקֶ֫רֶבqereb · entrails: amongH7130
- a stiffneckedעֹ֫רֶף‛ôreph · neckH6203
- a stiffneckedקָשֶׁהqâsheh · severeH7186
- peopleעַם‛am · peopleH5971
- lest I consumeכָּלָהkâlâh · to end: destroyH3615
- thee in the wayדֶּ֫רֶךְderek · way: journeyH1870
Cross-references for Exodus 33:3
- Exodus 3:8So I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land into a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites and Jebusites.
- Exodus 13:5When the Lord brings you into the land of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Hivites and Jebusites—the land he swore to your ancestors to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey—you are to observe this ceremony in this month:
- Leviticus 20:24But I said to you, “You will possess their land; I will give it to you as an inheritance, a land flowing with milk and honey.” I am the Lord your God, who has set you apart from the nations.
- Numbers 13:27They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey! Here is its fruit.
- Numbers 14:8If the Lord is pleased with us, he will lead us into that land, a land flowing with milk and honey, and will give it to us.
- Numbers 16:13Isn’t it enough that you have brought us up out of a land flowing with milk and honey to kill us in the wilderness? And now you also want to lord it over us!
- Joshua 5:6The Israelites had moved about in the wilderness forty years until all the men who were of military age when they left Egypt had died, since they had not obeyed the Lord. For the Lord had sworn to them that they would not see the land he had solemnly promised their ancestors to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
- Jeremiah 11:5Then I will fulfill the oath I swore to your ancestors, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey’—the land you possess today.” I answered, “Amen, Lord.”
- Exodus 33:15Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here.
- Exodus 32:10Now leave me alone so that my anger may burn against them and that I may destroy them. Then I will make you into a great nation.”
- Numbers 14:12I will strike them down with a plague and destroy them, but I will make you into a nation greater and stronger than they.”
- Deuteronomy 32:26I said I would scatter them and erase their name from human memory,
- 1 Samuel 2:30“Therefore the Lord, the God of Israel, declares: ‘I promised that members of your family would minister before me forever.’ But now the Lord declares: ‘Far be it from me! Those who honor me I will honor, but those who despise me will be disdained.
- Jeremiah 18:7If at any time I announce that a nation or kingdom is to be uprooted, torn down and destroyed,
- Ezekiel 3:18When I say to a wicked person, ‘You will surely die,’ and you do not warn them or speak out to dissuade them from their evil ways in order to save their life, that wicked person will die for their sin, and I will hold you accountable for their blood.
- Ezekiel 33:13If I tell a righteous person that they will surely live, but then they trust in their righteousness and do evil, none of the righteous things that person has done will be remembered; they will die for the evil they have done.
Commentaries on Exodus 33:3
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary · v. 3I 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.Read the comment
- Tyndale Open Study Notes · v. 3land flowing with milk and honey: Canaan was not as fertile as the Nile Valley in Egypt, but it was much more productive than the Sinai desert. stiff-necked people: They did not keep their promises. I might destroy you: As God of the covenant, the Lord would enforce the covenant terms that required the destruction of those who violated it (see study note on 23:20–33; also see 24:7–8 and study notes).Read the comment
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary · v. 33. 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 Ex 32:7).Read the comment
Topics related to Exodus 33:3
In the dictionaries
Commentaries on Exodus 33
- Adam Clarke Bible Commentary
- Barnes’ Notes on the Bible
- Matthew Henry Concise Commentary
- Tyndale Open Study Notes
- Jamieson–Fausset–Brown Commentary
- Rashi on Tanakh
- Calvin’s Commentaries
- Keil & Delitzsch Commentary
- John Wesley’s Notes
- Darby Translation Notes
- Geneva Bible Translation Notes
- Kingcomments
- Matthew Henry’s Complete Commentary
- Matthew Henry’s Modern English Commentary
- Scofield Reference Notes, 1917 Edition
- Seventh-day Adventist Bible Commentary
- EGW Writings
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