Chapter 17

Water from the Rock. ¹ From the wilderness of Sin the whole Israelite community journeyed by stages, as the Lord directed, and encamped at Rephidim.^(A)

But there was no water for the people to drink, ^2 (B)and so they quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” Moses replied to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to a test?” ³ Here, then, in their thirst for water, the people grumbled against Moses, saying, “Why then did you bring us up out of Egypt? To have us die of thirst with our children and our livestock?” ⁴ So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? A little more and they will stone me!” ⁵ The Lord answered Moses: Go on ahead of the people, and take along with you some of the elders of Israel, holding in your hand, as you go, the staff with which you struck the Nile. ⁶ I will be standing there in front of you on the rock in Horeb. Strike the rock, and the water will flow from it for the people to drink.^(C) Moses did this, in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ The place was named Massah and Meribah,^[a] because the Israelites quarreled there and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord in our midst or not?”^(D)

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^[a] with his staff, and water came out in abundance, and the community and their livestock drank. ^12 [b]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.

¹⁵ he guided you through the vast and terrible wilderness with its saraph^[a] serpents and scorpions, its parched and waterless ground; he brought forth water for you from the flinty rock^(A)