2 So I will send an angel to go before you, and I will defeat the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites. I will force them to leave your land.
3 So go to the land filled with many good things, but I will not go with you. You people are very stubborn. If I go with you, I might destroy you along the way.”
4 The people heard this bad news and became very sad, so they stopped wearing jewelry.
5 This was because the Lord said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stubborn people. I might destroy you even if I travel with you only a short time. So take off all your jewelry while I decide what to do with you.’”
6 So the Israelites stopped wearing their jewelry at Mount Horeb.
7 Moses used to take a tent a short way outside the camp. He called it “the meeting tent.” Anyone who wanted to ask something from the Lord would go to the meeting tent outside the camp.
8 Any time Moses went out to the tent, all the people watched him. They stood at the entrance of their tents and watched Moses until he entered the meeting tent.