Numbers 20:1-13
New American Bible (Revised Edition)
Chapter 20[a]
Death of Miriam. 1 The Israelites, the whole community, arrived in the wilderness of Zin[b] in the first month, and the people stayed at Kadesh. It was here that Miriam died, and here that she was buried.
Need for Water at Kadesh. 2 Since the community had no water, they held an assembly against Moses and Aaron. 3 The people quarreled with Moses, exclaiming, “Would that we had perished when our kindred perished before the Lord! 4 Why have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here? 5 Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, only to bring us to this wretched place? It is not a place for grain nor figs nor vines nor pomegranates! And there is no water to drink!” 6 But Moses and Aaron went away from the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting, where they fell prostrate.
Sin of Moses and Aaron. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to them, 7 and the Lord said to Moses: 8 Take the staff and assemble the community, you and Aaron your brother, and in their presence command the rock to yield its waters. Thereby you will bring forth water from the rock for them, and supply the community and their livestock with water. 9 So Moses took the staff from its place before the Lord, as he was ordered. 10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly in front of the rock, where he said to them,(A) “Just listen, you rebels! Are we to produce water for you out of this rock?” 11 (B)Then, raising his hand, Moses struck the rock twice[c] with his staff, and water came out in abundance, and the community and their livestock drank. 12 [d]But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Because you did not have confidence in me, to acknowledge my holiness before the Israelites, therefore you shall not lead this assembly into the land I have given them.
13 These are the waters of Meribah,(C) where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord, and through which he displayed his holiness.
Read full chapterFootnotes
- 20:1–29 In this chapter the deaths of the three wilderness leaders are either intimated or explicitly reported: Miriam, v. 1; Moses, v. 12; Aaron, vv. 12, 22–29.
- 20:1 The wilderness of Zin: a barren region with a few good oases, southwest of the Dead Sea. See note on 13:21. The first month: we would expect the mention also of the day and of the year (after the exodus) when this took place; cf. similar dates in 1:1; 10:11; 33:38; Dt 1:3. Here the full date is left unspecified. According to one chronology, the Israelites arrived in Kadesh in the third year after the exodus (cf. Dt 1:46). But the itinerary in chap. 33 would suggest the fortieth year, the year in which Aaron died (33:38).
- 20:11 Twice: perhaps because he did not have sufficient faith to work the wonder with the first blow. Cf. v. 12.
- 20:12–13 What lay behind Moses and Aaron’s lack of confidence is not made explicit in the text. Holiness: an allusion to the name of the place, Kadesh, which means “holy, sanctified, sacred.” Meribah means “contention.” Cf. Ex 17:7.
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