Exodus 33:4

4 And the people heard this troubling word, and they mourned, and they each did not put their ornaments on themselves.

Exodus 33:4 Meaning and Commentary

Exodus 33:4

And when the people heard these evil tidings
That God would withdraw his gracious presence, and go not up with them himself, only send an angel with them; and especially this may respect what is threatened, ( Exodus 33:5 ) and had been said at this time:

they mourned;
were inwardly and heartily grieved for their sin, whereby they had provoked the Lord to depart from them, and gave some outward and open tokens of it:

and no man did put on his ornaments;
they used to wear at other times, their rings and jewels, which the princes and the chief among the people especially were wont to wear; and in common the people did not put on their best clothes, or what they usually wore, but clothed themselves in mournful habits, in sackcloth and ashes, or in some such like manner.

Exodus 33:4 In-Context

2 And I will send an angel before you, and I will drive out the Canaanites, the Amorites, and the Hittites and the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites,

3 [Go] to a land flowing with milk and honey, but I will not go up among you, because you [are] a stiff-necked people, lest I destroy you on the way."

4 And the people heard this troubling word, and they mourned, and they each did not put their ornaments on themselves.

5 And Yahweh said to Moses, "Say to the {Israelites}, 'You [are] a stiff-necked people; [if] one moment I were to go up among you, I would destroy you. And now take down your ornaments from on you, and I will {decide} what I will do to you."

6 And the {Israelites} stripped themselves of their ornaments from Mount Horeb [onward].

Footnotes

• [a]. Or "bad," "disastrous," "calamitous"