Then he said, “If now I have found grace in Your sight, O Lord, let my Lord, I pray, go among us, even though we are a stiff-necked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”
Parallel translations
- WEB He said, “If now I have found favor in your sight, Lord, please let the Lord go among us; although this is a stiff-necked people; pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for your inheritance.”
- KJV And he said, If now I have found grace in thy sight, O LORD, let my LORD, I pray thee, go among us; for it is a stiffnecked people; and pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for thine inheritance.
- BSB “O Lord,” he said, “if I have indeed found favor in Your sight, my Lord, please go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our iniquity and sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”
- NASB Then he said, “If in any way I have found favor in Your sight, Lord, please may the Lord go along in our midst, even though the people are so obstinate, and pardon our wrongdoing and our sin, and take us as Your own possession.”
- NLT And he said, “O Lord, if it is true that I have found favor with you, then please travel with us. Yes, this is a stubborn and rebellious people, but please forgive our iniquity and our sins. Claim us as your own special possession.”
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Moses pleads for God to go with His stiff-necked people, pardon their sin, and take them as His inheritance. He intercedes on the basis of the grace just revealed.
Overview
Building on God's proclamation of mercy, Moses asks for the very things God has revealed Himself to give: presence, pardon, and possession. He freely admits the people's stubbornness, appealing only to grace. To ask God to take them as His 'inheritance' anticipates the wonder that God's people become His treasured possession in Christ (Ephesians 1:18).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Ps 33:12Blessed is the nation whose God is Yahweh, the people whom he has chosen for his own inheritance.
- Deut 32:9For Yahweh’s portion is his people. Jacob is the lot of his inheritance.
- Ps 94:14For Yahweh won’t reject his people, neither will he forsake his inheritance.
- Ps 135:4For Yah has chosen Jacob for himself; Israel for his own possession.
- Jer 10:16The portion of Jacob is not like these; for he is the former of all things; and Israel is the tribe of his inheritance: Yahweh of Armies is his name.
- Ps 28:9Save your people, and bless your inheritance. Be their shepherd also, and bear them up forever.
- Exod 33:13–17Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me now your way, that I may know you, so that I may find favor in your sight: and consider that this nation is your people.”
- Exod 32:9Yahweh said to Moses, “I have seen these people, and behold, they are a stiff-necked people.
- Zech 2:12Yahweh will inherit Judah as his portion in the holy land, and will again choose Jerusalem.
- Exod 19:5Now therefore, if you will indeed obey my voice, and keep my covenant, then you shall be my own possession from among all peoples; for all the earth is mine;
- Ps 78:62He also gave his people over to the sword, and was angry with his inheritance.
- Matt 28:20teaching them to observe all things that I commanded you. Behold, I am with you always, even to the end of the age.” Amen.
- Isa 48:4Because I knew that you are obstinate, and your neck is an iron sinew, and your brow brass;
- Ps 25:11For your name’s sake, Yahweh, pardon my iniquity, for it is great.
- Num 14:19Please pardon the iniquity of this people according to the greatness of your loving kindness, and according as you have forgiven this people, from Egypt even until now.”
- Exod 33:3–5to a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way.”
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
The Passover lamb whose blood turns away death, the exodus through the sea, the manna, the rock, and the tabernacle where God dwells with his people all foreshadow Jesus — our Passover, our redemption, the bread from heaven, and God-with-us in the flesh.
How Exodus 34:9 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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