Water from the Rock

17 The entire Israelite community left the Wilderness of Sin, moving from one place to the next according to the Lord’s command. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.^{(A) 2} So the people complained to Moses, “Give us water to drink.”

“Why are you complaining to me?” Moses replied to them. “Why are you testing^(B) the Lord?”

³ But the people thirsted there for water, and grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you ever bring us out of Egypt to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?”^(C)

⁴ Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with these people? In a little while they will stone me!”^(D)

⁵ The Lord answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take the staff you struck the Nile with in your hand and go. ⁶ I am going to stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb; when you hit the rock, water^(E) will come out of it and the people will drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ He named the place Massah^[a] and Meribah^[b](F) because the Israelites complained, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

² There was no water for the community, so they assembled against Moses and Aaron. ³ The people quarreled with Moses and said, “If only we had perished when our brothers perished before the Lord.^{(A) 4} Why have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here? ⁵ Why have you led us up from Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It’s not a place of grain, figs, vines, and pomegranates,^(B) and there is no water to drink!”

⁶ Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting. They fell down with their faces to the ground, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. ⁷ The Lord spoke to Moses, ⁸ “Take the staff^(C) and assemble the community. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will yield its water. You will bring out water for them from the rock and provide drink for the community and their livestock.”

⁹ So Moses took the staff from the Lord’s presence^(D) just as He had commanded him. ¹⁰ Moses and Aaron summoned the assembly in front of the rock, and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels! Must we bring water out of this rock for you?” ¹¹ Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, so that a great amount of water gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.^(E)

¹² But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust Me to show My holiness in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them.”^{(F) 13} These are the waters of Meribah,^[a](G) where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord, and He showed His holiness to them.