Exodus 33:15

Summary

Moses responds to the LORD in Exodus 33:15, stating a conditional: if God's panim ("presence/face") does not go with them, they should not be brought up from the place where they are. The verse is structured as a conditional clause followed by a negative imperative request.

Key words

• paneikha ("your presence", H6440H) — masculine plural construct noun with 2nd person suffix; literally "your faces," a plural form used idiomatically for "presence."
• holekhim ("going", H1980G) — qal participle, masculine plural, agreeing with paneikha; expresses ongoing/continuous action rather than a single completed act of going.
• ta'aleinu ("you bring us up", H5927H) — hiphil (causative) imperfect with 1st person plural suffix "us" (H9035); the hiphil stem makes the verb causative ("cause to go up") rather than simple "go up."
• 'im ("if", H0518A) — conditional particle opening the subordinate clause that sets the condition for the request.
• mizzeh ("from here", H2088) — demonstrative particle combined with the preposition mi ("from", H9006), indicating the location from which they would be led.

What the text says

The verse opens with the narrative va-yomer ("and he said", H0559), continuing the dialogue begun earlier in the chapter, followed by elav ("to him", H0413 + H9033), which the LXX renders as πρὸς αὐτόν, matching the Hebrew directional sense. The core of the verse is a conditional sentence: 'im 'ein paneikha holekhim ("if your presence is not going"). The noun panim ("face/presence") is grammatically plural, though it functions as a singular concept referring to a divine attribute; it stands in construct with the pronominal suffix -kha ("your"), and is paired with the plural participle holekhim, agreeing grammatically. This participle construction (rather than a finite verb) suggests a durative or ongoing sense — the presence "going" as a continuous state, not a one-time act of departure.

The apodosis uses the hiphil imperfect ta'aleinu, from the root 'alah ("to go up", H5927H), in its causative form: "you bring us up." The suffix -nu ("us", H9035) marks the object as plural, referring to the group Moses represents, not himself alone. The clause is negated by 'al (H0408), a particle used for immediate prohibitions, giving the sense "do not [proceed to] bring us up." The final phrase mizzeh ("from here", H2088) specifies the location referenced by the causative verb.

Differences between versions

The Hebrew paneikha ("your presence/face") is rendered in the LXX as αὐτὸς σὺ ("you yourself") and in the Vulgate as tu ipse ("you yourself"), both shifting from the noun "presence" to an emphatic personal pronoun construction. Additionally, the Hebrew suffix on ta'aleinu is plural ("us"), matching the Vulgate nos ("us"), while the LXX uses the singular με ("me"), diverging in grammatical number from both the Hebrew and the Vulgate.