2 I will send an angel to lead you, and I will force these people out of the land: the Canaanites, Amorites, Hittites, Perizzites, Hivites, and Jebusites.
3 Go up to a fertile land. But I will not go with you, because I might destroy you on the way, since you are such a stubborn people.”
4 When the people heard this bad news, they became very sad, and none of them put on jewelry.
5 This was because the Lord had said to Moses, “Tell the Israelites, ‘You are a stubborn people. If I were to go with you even for a moment, I would destroy you. So take off all your jewelry, and I will decide what to do with you.’ ”
6 So the people of Israel took off their jewelry at Mount Sinai.
7 Moses used to take a tent and set it up a long way outside the camp; he called it the “Meeting Tent.” Anyone who wanted to ask the Lord about something would go to the Meeting Tent outside the camp.
8 Whenever Moses went out to the Tent, all the people would rise and stand at the entrances of their tents, watching him until he entered the Meeting Tent.