Bible Strands
Exodus 33:3
Go up to a land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people; otherwise, I might destroy you on the way.”
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — God addresses Moses, commanding him to advance toward the promised territory. This statement immediately follows the announcement of a delegated angel and precedes the community's mourning response.
The words — The Hebrew word זָבַת (za.Vat) literally means "flowing" or "pouring out," characterizing the land's agricultural abundance. God also employs אֶֽעֱלֶ֜ה ('e.'e.Leh), meaning "I will go up," to stress His personal refusal to accompany the camp.
The thread — The designation of a land "flowing with milk and honey" originates in Exodus 3:8 as the initial covenant promise. The label "stiff-necked people" directly mirrors the diagnosis recorded in Exodus 32:9.
Why it lands — The passage establishes that receiving a promised inheritance does not automatically secure God's immediate presence. It requires a reader to accept that persistent rebellion warrants the withdrawal of divine companionship despite ongoing provision.
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
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
- Exodus 32:9 The LORD also said to Moses, “I have seen this people, and they are indeed a stiff-necked people.
- Exodus 3:8 I have come down to rescue them from the hand of the Egyptians and to bring them up out of that land to a good and spacious land, a land flowing with milk and honey—the home of the Canaanites, Hittites, Amorites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
- Deuteronomy 9:6 Understand, then, that it is not because of your righteousness that the LORD your God is giving you this good land to possess, for you are a stiff-necked people.
- Acts 7:51 You stiff-necked people with uncircumcised hearts and ears! You always resist the Holy Spirit, just as your fathers did.
- Exodus 33:15 “If Your Presence does not go with us,” Moses replied, “do not lead us up from here.
- Jeremiah 11:5 This was in order to establish the oath I swore to your forefathers, to give them a land flowing with milk and honey, as it is to this day.” “Amen, LORD,” I answered.
- Numbers 16:21 “Separate yourselves from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.”
- Numbers 16:45 “Get away from this congregation so that I may consume them in an instant.” And Moses and Aaron fell facedown.
- Joshua 5:6 For the Israelites had wandered in the wilderness forty years, until all the nation’s men of war who had come out of Egypt had died, since they did not obey the LORD. So the LORD vowed never to let them see the land He had sworn to their fathers to give us, a land flowing with milk and honey.
- Ezekiel 33:13 If I tell the righteous man that he will surely live, but he then trusts in his righteousness and commits iniquity, then none of his righteous works will be remembered; he will die because of the iniquity he has committed.