Keluaran 20:19

20:19 They said to Moses, “You speak ¹  to us and we will listen, but do not let God speak with us, lest we die.”

Keluaran 33:4

33:4 When the people heard this troubling word ²  they mourned; ³  no one put on his ornaments.

[20:19]  ¹ tn The verb is a Piel imperative. In this context it has more of the sense of a request than a command. The independent personal pronoun “you” emphasizes the subject and forms the contrast with God’s speaking.

[33:4]  ² tn Or “bad news” (NAB, NCV).

[33:4]  ³ sn The people would rather have risked divine discipline than to go without Yahweh in their midst. So they mourned, and they took off the ornaments. Such had been used in making the golden calf, and so because of their association with all of that they were to be removed as a sign of remorse.