Exodus 33:20
But He added, “You cannot see My face, for no one can see Me and live.”
And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live.
He said, “You cannot see my face, for man may not see me and live.”
And he said, Thou canst not see my face; for man shall not see me and live.
Related passages
From the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, grouped by the word they explain.
- Thou canst not
- This is well explained by Rabbi Jehudah, in Sepher Cosri, (P. iv. 3.) "Of that divine glory mentioned in the Scripture, there is one degree which the eyes of the prophets were able to explore; another which all the Israelites saw, as the cloud and consuming fire; the third is so bright, and so dazzling, that no mortal is able to comprehend it; but should anyone venture to look on it, his whole frame would be dissolved." In such inconceivable splendour is the Divine Majesty revealed to the inhabitants of the celestial world, where he is said to "dwell in the light which no man can approach unto." (1 Ti 6:16.) By the "face of God," therefore, we are to understand that light inaccessible before which angels may stand, but which would be so insufferable to mortal eyes, that no man could see it and live.
- Exodus 24:10; Genesis 32:30; Deuteronomy 5:24; Judges 6:22; Judges 13:22; Isaiah 6:5; John 1:18; 1 Timothy 6:16; Hebrews 1:13; Revelation 1:16, 17