Exodus 33:3 (ASV)

Passage

unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiffnecked people, lest I consume thee in the way.

Nearby Context

Exodus 33:1 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, Depart, go up hence, thou and the people that thou hast brought up out of the land of Egypt, unto the land of which I sware unto Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, Unto thy seed will I give it:

Exodus 33:2 and I will send an angel before thee; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite:

Exodus 33:3 unto a land flowing with milk and honey: for I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiffnecked people, lest I consume thee in the way.

Exodus 33:4 And when the people heard these evil tidings, they mourned: and no man did put on him his ornaments.

Exodus 33:5 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiffnecked people; if I go up into the midst of thee for one moment, I shall consume thee: therefore now put off thy ornaments from thee, that I may know what to do unto thee.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "land", "flowing", "milk", "honey", "midst", "thee", "thou", and "stiffnecked". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "land" and "flowing", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 2's "and I will send an angel before..." into verse 4's "And when the people heard these evil...", so "land" and "flowing" belong inside that flow. In Exodus context, the local focus is covenant, worship, and faithfulness.

A plain takeaway is to answer the verse's own emphasis on "land" and "flowing" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.