Exodus 17:8-16

EasyEnglish Bible

The Israelites fight the Amalekites

⁸ At Rephidim, the Amalekites came and they fought against the Israelites. ⁹ Moses said to Joshua, ‘Choose some of our men. Then go out with them and fight against the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill, and I will hold God's stick in my hand.’

¹⁰ So Joshua fought against the Amalekites. He did what Moses had told him to do. Moses, Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹ When Moses lifted up his hands, the Israelites were winning in the fight. But when Moses brought his hands down, the Amalekites were winning. ¹² Moses' hands became very tired. So Aaron and Hur put a big stone under Moses for him to sit on. Then Aaron and Hur held up Moses' hands. Aaron stood on one side of Moses, and Hur stood on the other side. They held his hands up, until sunset. ¹³ As a result, Joshua and his men destroyed the Amalekite army in the fight.

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, ‘Write down what happened here in a book. Then people will remember it. Read it aloud for Joshua to hear. Say that I will completely destroy all the Amalekites. Nobody in the whole world will remember them any more.’

¹⁵ Then Moses used big stones to build an altar. He called it ‘The Lord is my flag in war’.^{[a] 16} Moses said, ‘Take hold of the Lord's flag! The Lord will always continue to fight against the Amalekites.’