King James Bible
"And he said, Thou canst not see my face: for there shall no man see me, and live."
God responds to Moses' request to see His glory with a firm limitation—His face, representing His full unveiled presence, cannot be directly witnessed. This establishes a boundary between the holy God and mortal humanity, even for Moses who spoke with God "face to face" in a veiled sense. The reason given is absolute: direct exposure to God's infinite holiness and glory would overwhelm and destroy finite, sinful human beings. This theological principle underscores both God's transcendent otherness and the protective mercy in His self-concealment throughout Scripture.