Exodus 33:20 (DRB)

Passage

And again he said: Thou canst not see my face: for man shall not see me, and live.

Nearby Context

Exodus 33:18 And he said: Shew me thy glory.

Exodus 33:19 He answered: I will shew thee all good, and I will proclaim in the name of the Lord before thee: and I will have mercy on whom I will, and I will be merciful to whom it shall please me.

Exodus 33:20 And again he said: Thou canst not see my face: for man shall not see me, and live.

Exodus 33:21 And again he said: Behold there is a place with me, and thou shalt stand upon the rock.

Exodus 33:22 And when my glory shall pass, I will set thee in a hole of the rock, and protect thee with my righthand till I pass:

Study Lenses

The verse centers on "again", "said", "thou", "canst", "face", "shall", and "live". It is saying that the verse draws attention to "again" and "said", so its meaning should be read from those terms before moving to application.

The nearby context moves from verse 19's "He answered I will shew thee all..." into verse 21's "And again he said Behold there is...", so "again" and "said" 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 "again" and "said" with trust shaped by these words, not by a vague optimism outside the passage.