Exodus 33:2 (DRB)

Passage

And I will send an angel before thee, that I may cast out the Chanaanite, and the Amorrhite, and the Hethite, and the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite,

Nearby Context

Exodus 33:1 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Go, get thee up from this place, thou and thy people which thou hast brought out of the land of Egypt, into the land concerning which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, saying: To thy seed I will give it:

Exodus 33:2 And I will send an angel before thee, that I may cast out the Chanaanite, and the Amorrhite, and the Hethite, and the Pherezite, and the Hevite, and the Jebusite,

Exodus 33:3 That thou mayst enter into the land that floweth with milk and honey. For I will not go up with thee, because thou art a stiffnecked people; lest I destroy thee in the way.

Exodus 33:4 And the people hearing these very bad tidings, mourned: and no man put on his ornaments according to custom.

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "send", "angel", "before", "thee", "cast", "chanaanite", "amorrhite", and "hethite". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "send" and "angel", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 1's "And the Lord spoke to Moses saying..." into verse 3's "That thou mayst enter into the land...", so "send" and "angel" 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 "send" and "angel" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.