Exodus 33:4 (DBY)

Passage

And when the people heard this evil word, they mourned; and no man put on his ornaments.

Nearby Context

Exodus 33:2 (and I will send an angel before thee, and dispossess the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite,)

Exodus 33:3 into a land flowing with milk and honey; for I will not go up in the midst of thee, for thou art a stiff-necked people, lest I consume thee on the way.

Exodus 33:4 And when the people heard this evil word, they mourned; and no man put on his ornaments.

Exodus 33:5 Now Jehovah had said to Moses, Say unto the children of Israel, Ye are a stiff-necked people: in one moment I will come up into the midst of thee and will consume thee. And now put off thine ornaments from thee, and I will know what I will do unto thee.

Exodus 33:6 And the children of Israel stripped themselves of their ornaments at mount Horeb.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "people", "heard", "evil", "word", "mourned", and "ornaments". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "people" and "heard", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 3's "into a land flowing with milk and..." into verse 5's "Now Jehovah had said to Moses Say...", so "people" and "heard" 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 "people" and "heard" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.