וַיֹּ֨אמֶר אֵלָ֤יו יְהוָה֙ לֶךְ־רֵ֔ד וְעָלִ֥יתָ אַתָּ֖ה וְאַהֲרֹ֣ן עִמָּ֑ךְ וְהַכֹּהֲנִ֣ים וְהָעָ֗ם אַל־יֶֽהֶרְס֛וּ לַעֲלֹ֥ת אֶל־יְהוָ֖ה פֶּן־יִפְרָץ־בָּֽם׃
Le Seigneur lui repartit: "Descends, dis-je, puis tu remonteras accompagné d’Aaron. Mais que les pontifes et le peuple ne s’aventurent pas à monter vers le Seigneur, il pourrait sévir contre eux."
On the Posterity of Cain and his Exile
[136] Rebecca, it says, went down to the spring to fill her pitcher, and came up again. For whence is it likely that a mind thirsting for sound sense should be filled save from the wisdom of God, that never-failing spring, its descent to which is an ascent in accordance with some innate characteristic of a true learner? For the teaching of virtue awaits those who come down from empty self-conceit, and taking them in its arms carries them to the heights with fair fame. It is with a view to this, as it seems to me, that God says to Moses, “Go, get thee down, and come up” (Exod. 19:24), implying that everyone who rightly gauges his own inferiority becomes more honourable in the estimation of those who can judge of reality.