Numbers 20:1-29
20 * And the sons of Israel, all the congregation, came to the wilderness of Sin in the first month; and the people stayed at Kadesh, and Miriam died there and was buried there.
2 And there was no water for the congregation; and they assembled round Moses and Aaron.
3 And the people upbraided Moses and said “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before Jehovah!
4 and why have you brought Jehovah’s assembly to this wilderness for us and our beasts to die here?
5 and why did you take us up out of Egypt to bring us to this mean place? it is not a place for sowing nor for fig-tree and grapevine and pomegranate, and there is no water to drink.”
6 And Moses and Aaron came from before the assembly to the door of the Tent of Meeting and threw themselves on their faces; and the glory of Jehovah appeared to them.
7 And Jehovah spoke to Moses, saying
8 “Take the stick and assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aaron, and speak to the cliff before their eyes and it shall give water; and you shall bring out water from the cliff for them and give drink to the congregation and their beasts.”
9 And Moses took the stick from before Jehovah as he had commanded him;
10 * and Moses and Aaron assembled the assembly in front of the cliff, and he said to them “Listen, you mutineers; are we to bring out water from this cliff for you?”
11 And Moses raised his hand and struck the cliff with his stick twice, and a great deal of water came out and the congregation and their beasts had drink.
12 And Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron “Since you did not trust me, recognizing my holiness before the eyes of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the country I have given to them.”
13 * This is Meribah Water, inasmuch as the sons of Israel upbraided Jehovah and he maintained his holiness against them.
14 And Moses sent envoys from Kadesh to the king of Edom; “Says your brother Israel, You know all the hard experience we have had:
15 our fathers went down to Egypt and we lived in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians maltreated us and our fathers,
16 and we cried out to Jehovah and he listened to our voice and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt; and here we are at Kadesh, a city in the edge on your territory.
17 * Let us pass through your country: we will not pass through field nor vineyard, nor drink well water; we will go by the public road, not turning to right or to left, till we are past your territory.”
18 But Edom said to him “You are not to pass by me, for fear I should come out to meet you in warfare.”
19 And the sons of Israel said to him “We will go up by the highway, and if we drink your water, I and my stock, I will give you the price of it; I will just walk through, nothing else.”
20 But he said “You shall not pass,” and Edom came out to meet him with formidable numbers and strong hand;
21 and Edom refused to let Israel pass through his territory, and Israel turned off from him and marched away from Kadesh.
22 And the sons of Israel, all the congregation, came to Mount Hor.
23 And Jehovah said to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor on the boundary of Edom
24 “Aaron is to be gathered to his kinsfolk, because he is not to go into the country I have given to the sons of Israel, on account of your having disobeyed me at Meribah Water:
25 take Aaron and his son Eleazar and take them up on Mount Hor,
26 and strip Aaron of his garments and robe his son Eleazar in them, and Aaron shall be gathered home and die there.”
27 And Moses did as Jehovah commanded; and they went up on Mount Hor before the eyes of all the congregation,
28 and Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and robed his son Eleazar in them, and Aaron died there on the mountaintop. And Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain,
29 and all the congregation saw that Aaron had breathed his last; and all the house of Israel wept for Aaron thirty days.
Footnotes
^ 20:1 Or on the first new moon
^ 20:10 Var. Listen to me, you
^ 20:13-14 The name Meribah appears to mean Upbraiding and Kadesh to mean Holy
^ 20:17 Var. cistern water
