Composite 15 - Exodus 33:11-23; 34:4-6, 8 (Vespers, 2nd reading)
- 1
- The Lord spoke to Moses, as if one should speak to his friend; and he returned to the camp, but his servant Joshua the son of Nun, a young man, departed not from the Tabernacle. And Moses said to the Lord, “Behold, Thou didst command me to lead forth this people, but Thou hast not showed me whom Thou wilt send with me; but Thou hast said to me, ‘I know you above all, and you have found favor with me.’ If, then, I have found grace in Thy sight, reveal Thyself to me, that I may see Thee clearly, that I may find grace in Thy sight, and that I may know that this great nation is Thy people.” And the Lord said unto him, “I Myself will go before you, and I will give you rest.” And Moses said to Him, “If Thou Thyself dost not go with us, bring me not up from here.
- 2
- “And how shall it be surely known that both I and Thy people have found grace with Thee, except Thou go with us? So both I and Thy people shall be glorified beyond all the nations, as many as are upon the earth.” And the Lord said to Moses, “This word also, which you have spoken, I will do; for you have found grace before Me, and I know you above all.” And Moses said, “Show me Thy glory.”
- 3
- And the Lord said to Moses, I will go before you with My glory, and I will call out My name, ‘the Lord’ before you; and I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy, and will have compassion on whom I will have compassion.” And again He said, “You shall not be able to see My face, for man shall not see My face and live.” And again the Lord said, “Behold there is a place by Me; you shall stand upon the rock. And when My glory shall pass by, then I will put you in a cleft on the rock; and I will cover you with My hand, until I pass by. And I will take away My hand, and then you shall see My backside; but My face shall not appear to you.”
- 4
- And having risen early in the morning, Moses went up Mount Sinai, as the Lord had told him. And the Lord descended in a cloud, and Moses stood there before Him and called out in the name of the Lord. And the Lord passed by before his face, and called out, “The Lord God, compassionate and merciful, longsuffering, greatly-merciful, and true.” And Moses, making haste, stooped down to the earth and worshipped the Lord.