The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy (י״ג מִידּוֹת) or Shelosh-‘Esreh Middot HaRakhamim 

The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy (י״ג מִידּוֹת) or Shelosh-‘Esreh Middot HaRakhamim appears on Exodus 34:6 including Numbers 14:18, Joel 2:13, Jonah 4:2, Micah 7:18, Nahum 1:3, Psalms 86:15, 103:8, 145:8, and Nehemiah 9:17.

Exodus 33:12-23 TLV

¹² So Moses said to Adonai “You say to me, ‘Bring up this people,’ but You have not let me know whom You will send with me. Yet You have said, ‘I know you by name, and you have also found grace in My eyes.’ ¹³ Now then, I pray, if I have found grace in Your eyes, show me Your ways, so that I may know You, so that I might find favor in Your sight. Consider also that this nation is Your people.”

¹⁴ “My presence will go with you, and I will give you rest,” He answered.

¹⁵ But then he said to Him, “If Your presence does not go with me, don’t let us go up from here! ¹⁶ For how would it be known that I or your people have found favor in Your sight? Isn’t it because You go with us, that distinguishes us from all the people on the face of the earth?”

¹⁷ Adonai answered Moses, “I will also do what you have said, for you have found favor in My sight, and I know you by name.”

¹⁸ Then he said, “Please, show me Your glory!”

¹⁹ So He said, “I will cause all My goodness to pass before you, and call out the Name of Adonai before you. I will be gracious toward whom I will be gracious, and I will show mercy on whom I will be merciful.” ²⁰ But He also said, “You cannot see My face, for no man can see Me and live.”

²¹ Then Adonai said, “See, a place near Me—you will stand on the rock. ²² While My glory passes by, I will put you in a cleft of the rock, and cover you with My hand, until I have passed by. ²³ Then I will take away My hand, and you will see My back, but My face will not be seen.”

Exodus 34:6-9 TLV

Thirteen Attributes of God

⁶ Then Adonai passed before him, and proclaimed, “Adonai, Adonai, the compassionate and gracious God, slow to anger, and abundant in lovingkindness and truth, ⁷ showing mercy to a thousand generations, forgiving iniquity and transgression and sin, yet by no means leaving the guilty unpunished, but bringing the iniquity of the fathers upon the children, and upon the children’s children, to the third and fourth generation.”

⁸ Then Moses quickly bowed his head down to the earth and worshipped. ⁹ He said, “If now I have found grace in Your eyes, my Lord, let my Lord please go within our midst, even though this is a stiff-necked people. Pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your own inheritance.”

The Thirteen Attributes of Mercy (י״ג מִידּוֹת) or Shelosh-‘Esreh Middot HaRakhamim:

Moses had his spiritual relationship with God (“The Lord would speak to Moses panim el panim, face to face”, Ex. 33:11), asking to see God’s Presence (kevodecha) (v 18). God offers to pass God’s “goodness” before Moses, though not God’s face, since “no human can see Me and live” (v. 20).

The Thirteen Attributes of God in the Machzor:
YHVH, YHVH, a God compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, abounding in kindness and faithfulness, extending kindness to the thousandth generation, bearing iniquity, transgression and sin, and acquitting…. Pardon our iniquity and our sin, and take us for Your own!

Please click 13 Attributes of Mercy