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Miriam’s Punishment. 10 Now the cloud withdrew from the tent, and there was Miriam,(A) stricken with a scaly infection, white as snow![a] When Aaron turned toward Miriam and saw her stricken with snow-white scales, 11 he said to Moses, “Ah, my lord! Please do not charge us with the sin that we have foolishly committed! 12 Do not let her be like the stillborn baby that comes forth from its mother’s womb with its flesh half consumed.” 13 Then Moses cried to the Lord, “Please, not this! Please, heal her!” 14 But the Lord answered Moses: Suppose her father had spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be confined outside the camp for seven days; afterwards she may be brought back. 15 So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not start out again until she was brought back.

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Footnotes

  1. 12:10 Stricken with a scaly infection, white as snow: see note on Lv 13:1–14:47. The point of the simile lies either in the flakiness or the whiteness of snow.

10 When the cloud lifted from above the tent,(A) Miriam’s skin was leprous[a]—it became as white as snow.(B) Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease,(C) 11 and he said to Moses, “Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed.(D) 12 Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away.”

13 So Moses cried out to the Lord, “Please, God, heal her!(E)

14 The Lord replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face,(F) would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp(G) for seven days; after that she can be brought back.” 15 So Miriam was confined outside the camp(H) for seven days,(I) and the people did not move on till she was brought back.

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 12:10 The Hebrew for leprous was used for various diseases affecting the skin.