⁵ And the Lord said to Moses, ^(A)“Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which ^(B)you struck the river, and go. ^6 (C)Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.”

And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ So he called the name of the place ^(D)Massah^[a] and ^[b]Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they ^[c]tempted the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Victory over the Amalekites^(E)

^8 (F)Now Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. ⁹ And Moses said to Joshua, “Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with ^(G)the rod of God in my hand.” ¹⁰ So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹ And so it was, when Moses ^(H)held up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. ¹² But Moses’ hands became ^[d]heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. ¹³ So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

¹⁴ Then the Lord said to Moses, ^(I)“Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that ^(J)I will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” ¹⁵ And Moses built an altar and called its name, ^[e]The-Lord-Is-My-Banner; ¹⁶ for he said, “Because ^[f]the Lord has ^(K)sworn: the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”

Destroy the Amalekites

^17 (A)“Remember what Amalek did to you on the way as you were coming out of Egypt, ¹⁸ how he met you on the way and attacked your rear ranks, all the stragglers at your rear, when you were tired and weary; and he ^(B)did not fear God.

⁴⁰ And they rose early in the morning and went up to the top of the mountain, saying, ^(A)“Here we are, and we will go up to the place which the Lord has promised, for we have sinned!”

⁴¹ And Moses said, “Now why do you ^[a]transgress the command of the Lord? For this will not succeed. ^42 (B)Do not go up, lest you be defeated by your enemies, for the Lord is not among you. ⁴³ For the Amalekites and the Canaanites are there before you, and you shall fall by the sword; ^(C)because you have turned away from the Lord, the Lord will not be with you.”

^44 (D)But they presumed to go up to the mountaintop. Nevertheless, neither the ark of the covenant of the Lord nor Moses departed from the camp. ⁴⁵ Then the Amalekites and the Canaanites who dwelt in that mountain came down and attacked them, and drove them back as far as ^(E)Hormah.