1Yahweh spoke to Moses, “Depart, go up from here, you and the people that you have brought up out of the land of Egypt, to the land of which I swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, saying, ‘I will give it to your offspring.’ 2I will send an angel before you; and I will drive out the Canaanite, the Amorite, and the Hittite, and the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite. 3Go to a land flowing with milk and honey; but I will not go up among you, for you are a stiff-necked people, lest I consume you on the way.”
4When the people heard this evil news, they mourned; and no one put on his jewelry.
5Yahweh had said to Moses, “Tell the children of Israel, ‘You are a stiff-necked people. If I were to go up among you for one moment, I would consume you. Therefore now take off your jewelry from you, that I may know what to do to you.’”
6The children of Israel stripped themselves of their jewelry from Mount Horeb onward.
7Now Moses used to take the tent and pitch it outside the camp, far away from the camp, and he called it “The Tent of Meeting.” Everyone who sought Yahweh went out to the Tent of Meeting, which was outside the camp. 8When Moses went out to the Tent, all the people rose up, and stood, everyone at their tent door, and watched Moses, until he had gone into the Tent. 9When Moses entered into the Tent, the pillar of cloud descended, stood at the door of the Tent, and Yahweh spoke with Moses. 10All the people saw the pillar of cloud stand at the door of the Tent, and all the people rose up and worshiped, everyone at their tent door. 11Yahweh spoke to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend. He turned again into the camp, but his servant Joshua, the son of Nun, a young man, didn’t depart from the Tent.
12Moses said to Yahweh, “Behold, you tell me, ‘Bring up this people;’ and you haven’t let me know whom you will send with me. Yet you have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found favor in my sight.’ 13Now therefore, if I have found favor in your sight, please show me your way, now, that I may know you, so that I may find favor in your sight; and consider that this nation is your people.”
14He said, “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest.”
15Moses said to him, “If your presence doesn’t go with me, don’t carry us up from here. 16For how would people know that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Isn’t it that you go with us, so that we are separated, I and your people, from all the people who are on the surface of the earth?”
17Yahweh said to Moses, “I will do this thing also that you have spoken; for you have found favor in my sight, and I know you by name.”
18Moses said, “Please show me your glory.”
19He said, “I will make all my goodness pass before you, and will proclaim Yahweh’s name before you. I will be gracious to whom I will be gracious, and will show mercy on whom I will show mercy.” 20He said, “You cannot see my face, for man may not see me and live.” 21Yahweh also said, “Behold, there is a place by me, and you shall stand on the rock. 22It will happen, while my glory passes by, that I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and will cover you with my hand until I have passed by; 23then I will take away my hand, and you will see my back; but my face shall not be seen.”
Isaac was the son of promise to Abraham and Sarah, and the half-brother of Ishmael (who became the father of the Arab people) and the father of Esau (from whom came the Edomites) and Jacob. Isaac was born of a mother beyond childbearing age by a miracle of Yahweh, and was a focus of the testing of Abraham and Sarah, his parents.
The name Isaac means "to laugh, or he laughs," which is based on the response of Sarah to Yahweh's statement to Abraham that she was to bear a son. Sarah was hiding out of sight when this announcement was made by the Angel of Yahweh, and upon hearing this statement, she laughed, which she denied later before the angel. Such an idea was considered impossible but happened as promised by the heavenly visitor. Later, Abraham's faith was tested when God commanded him to sacrifice his only son, Isaac. He followed through with this command of God but received him back alive, since Yahweh kept him from doing so, declaring that now He knew by experience (see the meaning of Hebrew yada') that Abram did not withhold his son.
Later in Isaac's life, he married Rebekah, who bore him Jacob (biography) and Esau (his favorite), and was tricked by Jacob and Rebekah into giving his younger son Jacob his blessing.
Isaac was the only son of Abraham and Sarah, a half-brother of Ishmael and father of Esau and Jacob. Isaac was born when both of his parents were very old, the circumstances surrounding his birth being a test of their faith. The meaning of Isaac's name (“he laughs”) is explained by the fact that Abraham laughed when he was told a son would be born to him at the age of a hundred. Abraham's faith was further tested when he was told to sacrifice Isaac but was stopped at the last moment from carrying out this instruction.
See also Biographies of Bible Characters, People and Characters in the Bible.