Daily verse · Exodus 34:6
God Describes Himself
6And Hashem passed by before him, and proclaimed, Hashem, Hashem El Rachum v'Channun, slow to anger, and abundant in chesed and emes,
1×
Speed
Key word
רַחוּם (rachum), “compassionate”, shares its letters with רֶחֶם (rechem), “womb”. Many readers hear a mother's tenderness in it: the love you feel for a child you carried.
This is its first appearance in the Bible, and almost every time it appears afterwards, it describes God. A word with a mother's tenderness in it is one the Bible keeps, almost entirely, for God himself.
Insight
Literary observationNotice when God says this. Not on a good day. It's straight after the golden calf (Exodus 32), when Israel has broken the covenant within weeks of making it.
The first full description God gives of himself is spoken to people who have just failed him. “Compassionate and gracious” isn't a reward for getting it right. It's what he's like when we get it wrong.
Reflect ✎
Which word in this verse is hardest for you to believe about God when you've just let him down? Read the verse aloud slowly, with that word in mind.
Go deeper
Tap a card to open it.
Literary observationShow me your glory1 min read
After the golden calf, Moses pleads for the people, and then asks for something bold: “Please show me Your glory”1.
God says yes, in his own way. “I will cause all My goodness to pass before you… and I will proclaim My name.” He hides Moses “in a cleft of the rock” and covers him with his hand as he passes2.
Then it happens: “the LORD passed in front of Moses and called out…”3. What passes by isn't a shape or a blaze of light. It's a description of who God is.
Moses asked to see God's glory. What he was shown was God's mercy.
3 references
Linguistic observationA God with a long nose1 min read
God says his name twice, “The LORD, the LORD”, just as he'd promised1. Then come the words:
Gracious, חַנּוּן (channun): kindness that gives what isn't owed.
Slow to anger, אֶרֶךְ אַפַּיִם (erekh appayim): literally “long of nostrils”. Hebrew pictures anger as hot breath flaring from the nose. God's nose is long. It takes a lot to make it flare.
Loving devotion, חֶסֶד (chesed): love that keeps its promises.
Faithfulness, אֱמֶת (emet): something firm enough to build your life on.
The next verse adds the hard part: he “will by no means leave the guilty unpunished”. Mercy doesn't pretend sin doesn't matter. It just lasts longer: “to a thousand generations”, against “the third and fourth”2.
2 references
Literary observationThe verse the Bible keeps quoting1 min read
This becomes Israel's favourite way to describe God. Moses prays it back to him1. The psalms sing it2. Joel uses it to call people home3.
The most surprising quotation is Jonah's. He throws it at God as a complaint: “I knew that You are a gracious and compassionate God, slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion”4. That's why he ran away. He didn't want God to be this kind to Nineveh.
And one detail is easy to miss. The first time God calls himself “gracious”, חַנּוּן (channun), is earlier, in a law about a poor man's cloak taken as a pledge: “What else will he sleep in? And if he cries out to Me, I will hear, for I am compassionate”5. The BSB says “compassionate” there, but it's the same Hebrew word as “gracious” in our verse. God's grace starts with a poor man's blanket.
Jewish interpretationGod wraps himself in a prayer shawl1 min read
In Jewish worship, verses 6–7 are the Thirteen Attributes of Mercy, prayed on fast days and in prayers for forgiveness.
The Talmud (written down around AD 500) explains why with a daring picture. Rabbi Yochanan says that if it weren't written, we could never say it: God “wrapped Himself in a prayer shawl like a prayer leader” and showed Moses the order of prayer. “Whenever the Jewish people sin, let them act before Me in accordance with this order… and I will forgive them.”
On the doubled name, the same page says: “I am He before a person sins, and I am He after a person sins and performs repentance.” God doesn't become someone else when we fail.
Rashi, the great eleventh-century commentator, says “slow to anger” means God “does not hasten to punish — it may be that the sinner will repent.”
Christian interpretationFull of grace and truth1 min read
John's Gospel seems to have this scene in mind. “The Word became flesh and made His dwelling among us. We have seen His glory… full of grace and truth”1. Many readers hear in “grace and truth” an echo of chesed and emet.
John goes on: “No one has ever seen God, but the one and only Son… has made Him known”2.
Moses was only allowed to see God's back as his glory passed by3. Christians believe that in Jesus the same glory, the same compassionate and gracious God, is seen face to face. If you want to know what “slow to anger, abounding in loving devotion” looks like, watch how Jesus treats people.
3 references
Questions to take back to the text
- Read 33:18–34:7. Moses asked to see God's glory and was given a description of God's character. What does that tell you about what “glory” means?
- Jonah quotes this verse as a complaint. Is there someone you would rather God were less merciful to?
- Verse 7 holds mercy and justice together. Which of the two do you find easier to believe about God?
✎ Journal notes
Connections
- Exodus 33:18 · “Please show me Your glory”: the request this verse answers.
- Jonah 4:2 · Jonah quotes this verse as his reason for running from Nineveh.
- Exodus 22:27 · The first time God calls himself gracious: a poor man's cloak.
- John 1:14 · “Full of grace and truth”: the glory seen in Jesus.
Ask a follow-up question
Coming soon: you’ll be able to ask about this passage and get answers held to the same sourcing rules.
Written 2026-11-02 · HaDevarim editorial (AI-assisted). Labels show what kind of claim each note makes.