"No one has ever seen God" and תוּכַל לִרְאֹת אֶת־פָּנָי (Exod 33:20)

Says God tells Moses לֹא תוּכַל לִרְאֹת אֶת־פָּנָי (lo' tukhal lir'ot et-panay, "you cannot see my face"), כִּי לֹא־יִרְאַנִי הָאָדָם וָחָי (ki lo'-yir'ani ha'adam vakhay, "for no one can see me and live," Exod 33:20), and grants instead וְרָאִיתָ אֶת־אֲחֹרָי (vera'it^a et-akhoray, "you will see my back," 33:23). LXX (Swete): μὴ ἴδῃ ἄνθρωπος τὸ πρόσωπόν μου καὶ ζήσεται and τὰ ὀπίσω μου.

Says In the same chapter the Lord speaks with Moses פָּנִים אֶל־פָּנִים (panim el-panim, "face to face"; LXX ἐνώπιος ἐνωπίῳ), "as a man speaks to his friend" (33:11). At Peniel, after "a man" wrestles with him, Jacob says רָאִיתִי אֱלֹהִים פָּנִים אֶל־פָּנִים (ra'itⁱ elohim panim el-panim, "I have seen God face to face"), "and yet my life was spared" (Gen 32:24, 30 [MT 32:25, 31]).

Implies Exod 33:11 and 33:20 stand in the same chapter, so "face to face" in 33:11 cannot mean seeing the face God withholds in 33:20; it is an idiom for direct, personal speech. John 1:18 θεὸν οὐδεὶς ἑώρακεν πώποτε (theon oudeis heōraken pōpote, "no one has ever seen God") restates the axiom of Exod 33:20 and sets the Son who "has made him known" against Moses (1:17).

Uncertain Gen 32:30, by contrast, is a sighting, not the speech idiom. It stands in tension with Exod 33:20 and John 1:18, as do Exod 24:10–11 and Isa 6:1. A common answer in historic Protestant interpretation is that these were mediated or veiled appearances, often of the pre-incarnate Son. The exegetical note on theophanies takes up the question.