Exodus 33:18 kjv
And he said, I beseech thee, show me thy glory.
Exodus 33:18 nkjv
And he said, "Please, show me Your glory."
Exodus 33:18 niv
Then Moses said, "Now show me your glory."
Exodus 33:18 esv
Moses said, "Please show me your glory."
Exodus 33:18 nlt
Moses responded, "Then show me your glorious presence."
Exodus 33 18 Cross References
| Verse | Text | Reference |
|---|---|---|
| Exod 33:19-23 | The LORD replied, "I will cause all my goodness to pass... But you cannot see my face; for no man shall see Me and live." | God's response; limitations on seeing His full glory; revelation of His character. |
| Exod 34:5-7 | The LORD descended in the cloud... proclaimed "The LORD, the LORD, a God merciful and gracious..." | Fulfillment of God showing His "goodness" and proclaiming His "name." |
| Num 12:8 | "With him I speak face to face, openly, and not in riddles; and he beholds the form of the LORD." | Previous intimacy Moses had, yet this request goes deeper for His essence. |
| Isa 6:1-5 | "I saw the Lord sitting on a throne... 'Holy, holy, holy is the LORD of hosts; the whole earth is full of His glory!'" | Isaiah's vision of God's glorious presence and his reaction. |
| Psa 27:4 | "One thing I ask from the LORD... to gaze on the beauty of the LORD." | The psalmist's longing for deep communion and revelation of God's character. |
| Psa 63:2 | "So I have looked upon You in the sanctuary, beholding Your power and Your glory." | David's experience of seeing God's manifest power and glory in worship. |
| 1 Tim 6:16 | "...who alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see." | Affirms God's inaccessible essence for mortal man. |
| John 1:18 | "No one has ever seen God; the only God, who is at the Father's side, He has made Him known." | Christ as the ultimate revelation of the invisible God. |
| John 14:8-9 | Philip said, "Lord, show us the Father, and that will be enough for us." Jesus said, "Whoever has seen Me has seen the Father." | Disciples' desire to see God, answered by Christ as the visible image of God. |
| Matt 5:8 | "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God." | Promise of future vision for those made righteous by Christ. |
| 2 Cor 3:18 | "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another." | Believers seeing Christ's glory leads to spiritual transformation. |
| 1 Cor 13:12 | "For now we see in a mirror dimly, but then face to face. Now I know in part; then I shall know fully..." | Future complete knowledge and vision of God in the new heavens and earth. |
| 1 John 3:2 | "Beloved, we are God's children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when He appears we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is." | Future glorious hope of directly seeing God in His unveiled essence. |
| Rev 22:4 | "They will see His face, and His name will be on their foreheads." | Final, direct, unhindered vision of God for the redeemed. |
| Heb 11:27 | "...for he endured as seeing Him who is invisible." | Moses' faith allowed him to "see" the unseen God in a spiritual sense. |
| Psa 17:15 | "As for me, I shall behold Your face in righteousness; when I awake, I shall be satisfied with Your likeness." | Desire for future satisfied encounter with God in resurrection. |
| Deut 4:12 | "Then the LORD spoke to you out of the midst of the fire... You heard the sound of words, but saw no form." | God's self-revelation often through sound rather than visible form, setting a boundary. |
| Ezek 1:28 | "Like the appearance of the rainbow in the clouds on a rainy day, so was the appearance of the brightness all around; such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the LORD." | Ezekiel's visionary experience of God's glory, highly symbolic. |
| Isa 40:5 | "And the glory of the LORD shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see it together." | Prophecy of a future, universal revelation of God's glory. |
| Rom 1:20 | "For since the creation of the world His invisible attributes, His eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived..." | God's glory and attributes are indirectly discernible through creation. |
| Psa 42:2 | "My soul thirsts for God, for the living God. When can I go and meet with God?" | Reflects a deep yearning for the presence and vision of God. |
Exodus 33 verses
Exodus 33 18 Meaning
Exodus 33:18 presents Moses' fervent petition to God, "Please show me Your glory." This is a deep yearning for a direct and unveiled encounter with God's very essence, character, and manifested presence. Moses, having just interceded for the nation and received God's assurance of personal presence, now seeks a greater, more intimate, and foundational revelation of the Almighty Himself. It signifies a profound spiritual hunger to comprehend God's full majesty and attributes beyond audible communication or symbolic representation.
Exodus 33 18 Context
Exodus 33 is a pivotal chapter following the grievous sin of the golden calf (Exod 32). God, angered by Israel's rebellion, threatened to withdraw His direct presence from their journey, instead promising an angel to lead them (Exod 33:1-3). Moses, demonstrating incredible intercessory leadership, appealed to God, arguing that without God's personal presence, their journey and distinction as God's people were meaningless (Exod 33:12-16). God relented, reassuring Moses, "My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest" (Exod 33:14). It is immediately after receiving this renewed assurance of God's abiding presence that Moses, propelled by his intimate relationship and fervent spiritual pursuit, boldly asks for a revelation of God's "glory" (Exod 33:18). This request highlights the unparalleled depth of Moses' devotion and his audacious desire for an even greater intimacy with the Creator, pressing the limits of human experience. Culturally, while surrounding pagan religions had tangible, visible gods, the God of Israel remained largely unseen, known more through His deeds, word, and limited manifestations of His glory (e.g., in cloud, fire, thunder). Moses' request seeks to transcend these partial revelations, yearning for an ultimate manifestation.
Exodus 33 18 Word analysis
- Then Moses said (וַיֹּאמֶר מֹשֶׁה, vayyō’mer mōšeh)
- Standard narrative formula for direct speech.
- Significance: It clearly attributes the profound request directly to Moses, underscoring his unique relationship with God and bold faith.
- Please show me (הַרְאֵנִי נָא, har'ênî nā')
- הַרְאֵנִי (har'ênî): This is a Hiphil imperative of the verb רָאָה (ra’ah), meaning "to see." In the Hiphil stem, it means "to cause to see, to show."
- Significance: It implies an active, intentional unveiling by God, a divine initiative to make Himself known to Moses in a new and direct way, rather than Moses simply perceiving something. It's an earnest plea for divine revelation.
- נָא (nā’): An emphatic particle commonly translated as "please" or "now."
- Significance: Adds a tone of urgency, polite entreaty, and fervent pleading to Moses' request, highlighting the depth of his desire.
- הַרְאֵנִי (har'ênî): This is a Hiphil imperative of the verb רָאָה (ra’ah), meaning "to see." In the Hiphil stem, it means "to cause to see, to show."
- Your glory (אֶת־ כְּבֹדֶךָ, ’et-kəḇōdeḵā)
- כְּבֹדֶךָ (kəḇōdeḵā): This is the Hebrew word for "glory," kavod, with the possessive suffix for "your." The root of kavod (כָּבֵד, kāved) originally means "to be heavy" or "weighty."
- Significance: In a theological context, God's glory represents His manifested presence, the sum of His inherent majestic attributes, His character, power, wisdom, holiness, and divine radiance as they are revealed. It is His manifest honor and reputation. Moses is not asking to see a light show, but to grasp the full, overwhelming essence of who God is in His splendor and character. This request moves beyond God's promises and acts to the very core of God's being.
- כְּבֹדֶךָ (kəḇōdeḵā): This is the Hebrew word for "glory," kavod, with the possessive suffix for "your." The root of kavod (כָּבֵד, kāved) originally means "to be heavy" or "weighty."
Exodus 33 18 Bonus section
The audacity of Moses' request stems from an existing, unparalleled closeness with God. In Num 12:8, God describes His relationship with Moses as speaking "face to face." Yet, Moses' request for glory in Exod 33:18 goes beyond mere conversational intimacy. It signifies a desire to perceive God's very essence, the "weightiness" of His being, rather than just hearing His voice or seeing limited manifestations. This highlights the paradox of God's revelation: He is both intimately knowable (as He spoke with Moses) and utterly transcendent, incomprehensible in His fullness. Moses' yearning for God's "glory" points to a profound spiritual understanding that true rest and peace (promised in Exod 33:14) ultimately derive from experiencing God Himself. It also sets up a vital theological distinction between God's manifest presence (His "goodness" and "name" as revealed to Moses) and His full, veiled, unapproachable essence. This dynamic anticipates later biblical teaching that while God is Spirit and unseen, He reveals Himself adequately and increasingly through various means, culminating in Christ, who perfectly images the Father.
Exodus 33 18 Commentary
Exodus 33:18 records a monumental moment where Moses, already blessed with unparalleled intimacy with God, reaches for an even higher plane of encounter. Having successfully interceded for Israel's continued relationship with God and secured God's promise of abiding presence, Moses now dares to ask for the ultimate revelation: God's "glory." This is not a mere intellectual curiosity but a profound, Spirit-driven yearning for a deeper apprehension of God's very being. The word "glory" (Hebrew kavod) speaks to the weighty, majestic essence of God, the full display of His inherent character and manifest presence. This desire underscores Moses' exceptional love for and devotion to God. It highlights that the human heart, once it tastes the divine presence, hungers for more of God Himself. God's subsequent partial revelation (showing His goodness and proclaiming His name in Exod 34) demonstrates both the ineffability of His full glory to human perception and His gracious condescension to make Himself known in the greatest way possible while preserving human life. Moses' request encapsulates the eternal longing of the believer for ultimate intimacy with the Creator, ultimately fulfilled for humanity in the person of Jesus Christ, the image of the invisible God, and the future vision of God in the new heavens and earth.