Exodus 10:29

10:29 Moses said, “As you wish! ¹  I will not see your face again.” ² 

Exodus 33:20

33:20 But he added, “You cannot see my face, for no one can ³  see me and live.” ⁴ 

Exodus 34:33

34:33 When Moses finished ⁵  speaking ⁶  with them, he would ⁷  put a veil on his face.

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¹ tn Heb “Thus you have spoken.”

² tn This is a verbal hendiadys construction: “I will not add again [to] see.”

³ tn In view of the use of the verb “can, be able to” in the first clause, this imperfect tense is given a potential nuance.

⁴ tn Gesenius notes that sometimes a negative statement takes the place of a conditional clause; here it is equal to “if a man sees me he does not live” (GKC 498 §159.gg). The other passages that teach this are Gen 32:30; Deut 4:33, 5:24, 26; Judg 6:22, 13:22, and Isa 6:5.

⁵ tn Heb “and Moses finished”; the clause is subordinated as a temporal clause to the next clause.

⁶ tn The Piel infinitive construct is the object of the preposition; the whole phrase serves as the direct object of the verb “finished.”

⁷ tn Throughout this section the actions of Moses and the people are frequentative. The text tells what happened regularly.