Bible Strands
Exodus 33:12
Then Moses said to the LORD, “Look, You have been telling me, ‘Lead this people up,’ 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 found favor in My sight.’
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Moses addresses Yahweh immediately after their face-to-face dialogue at the tent of meeting, pressing for clarity before the journey continues.
The words — רְאֵה (Re'eh) = see and אֹמֵר ('o.Mer) = [are] saying anchor the opening clause, framing Moses' appeal as a direct response to the divine command.
The thread — The motif of divine knowledge and favor recurs in Exodus 33:17, where Yahweh confirms the request, and John 10:14, which parallels the shepherd-sheep dynamic of knowing.
Why it lands — The text records Moses demanding the identity of the accompanying guide before proceeding, forcing a reader to confront the gap between a command and its execution.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And Moses said unto the Lord, See, thou sayest unto me, Bring up this people: and thou hast not let me know whom thou wilt send with me. Yet thou hast said, I know thee by name, and thou hast also found grace in my sight.
Cross-references
- Exodus 33:17 So the LORD said to Moses, “I will do this very thing you have asked, for you have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name.”
- John 10:14 I am the good shepherd. I know My sheep and My sheep know Me,
- Exodus 32:34 Now go, lead the people to the place I described. Behold, My angel shall go before you. But on the day I settle accounts, I will punish them for their sin.”
- Jeremiah 1:5 “Before I formed you in the womb I knew you, and before you were born I set you apart and appointed you as a prophet to the nations.”
- 2 Timothy 2:19 Nevertheless, God’s firm foundation stands, bearing this seal: “The Lord knows those who are His,” and, “Everyone who calls on the name of the Lord must turn away from iniquity.”
- Genesis 18:19 For I have chosen him, so that he will command his children and his household after him to keep the way of the LORD by doing what is right and just, in order that the LORD may bring upon Abraham what He has promised.”
- Isaiah 43:1 But now, this is what the LORD says—He who created you, O Jacob, and He who formed you, O Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have called you by your name; you are Mine!
- Exodus 3:10 Therefore, go! I am sending you to Pharaoh to bring My people the Israelites out of Egypt.”
- Exodus 33:1 Then the LORD said to Moses, “Leave this place, you and the people you brought up out of the land of Egypt, and go to the land that I promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob when I said, ‘I will give it to your descendants.’
- Psalms 1:6 For the LORD guards the path of the righteous, but the way of the wicked will perish.