Possible meanings are 1) the face could be a synecdoche for the person. AT: "the people feared Yahweh" or 2) the face could be a metonym for the person's presence. AT: "the people were afraid to be in Yahweh's presence" (See: [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-synecdoche]] and [[rc://en/ta/man/translate/figs-metonymy]])