1. Then the Lord said to Moses, “You and the people you brought out of Egypt must leave this place. Go to the land that I promised to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob. I promised them that I would give that land to their descendants.
2. So I will send an angel to go before you, and I will defeat the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. I will force them to leave your land.
3. So go to the land filled with many good things, but I will not go with you. You people are very stubborn. If I go with you, I might destroy you along the way.”
4. The people heard this bad news and became very sad, so they stopped wearing jewelry.
5. This was because the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stubborn people. I might destroy you even if I travel with you only a short time. So take off all your jewelry while I decide what to do with you.’”
6. So the Israelites stopped wearing their jewelry at Mount Horeb.
7. Moses used to take a tent a short way outside the camp. He called it “the meeting tent.” Anyone who wanted to ask something from the Lord would go to the meeting tent outside the camp.
8. Any time Moses went out to the tent, all the people watched him. They stood at the entrance of their tents and watched Moses until he entered the meeting tent.
9. Whenever Moses went into the tent, the tall cloud would come down and stay at the entrance to the tent. And the Lord would speak with Moses.
10. So when the people saw the cloud at the entrance of the tent, they would go to the entrance of their own tents and bow down to worship God.
11. In this way the Lord spoke to Moses face to face like a man speaks with his friend. Then Moses would go back to the camp, but his helper, Joshua son of Nun, always stayed in the tent.