Exodus 17

The whole community of the people of Israel set out from the wilderness of Sin, moving from one camp to the next as the LORD commanded. They set up camp at Rephidim, and there was no water there for the people to drink.

1And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of the LORD, and pitched in Rephidim: and there was no water for the people to drink.

Note"The wilderness of Sin" has nothing to do with the English word sin; it is a place name in Hebrew (probably related to "Sinai"), a stretch of desert between Egypt and the mountain. Rephidim is a campsite whose location is no longer known. "The LORD" printed in capitals stands in for the personal name of Israel's God, written in Hebrew with four consonants (YHWH), which English versions have traditionally replaced with this title.

2So the people argued with Moses and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses said to them, "Why are you arguing with me? Why are you testing the LORD?"

2Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?

NoteIn 1611 "chide" meant to quarrel with or bring an accusation against someone, and "tempt" meant simply to test or put to the proof, not, as now, to lure into wrongdoing. The Hebrew words behind them carry a legal flavor: the people are lodging a formal complaint against Moses.

3But the people were thirsty for water there, and they complained against Moses. They said, "Why did you bring us up out of Egypt? Was it to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?"

3And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle with thirst?

4So Moses cried out to the LORD, "What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me."

4And Moses cried unto the LORD, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to stone me.

NoteStoning was how a community carried out an execution, everyone throwing at once so no single person was the killer. Moses is describing a crowd about to turn on him, not a threat of ordinary violence.

5The LORD said to Moses, "Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take in your hand the staff you used to strike the Nile River, and go.

5And the LORD said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, and go.

NoteThe "elders" were the senior heads of families who spoke for the people; the word describes a recognized position, not just old men. The staff is the same one Moses used to strike the Nile in the plague of blood (Exodus 7), so mentioning it recalls a rod already known to produce a public sign.

6Look, I will stand there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. You are to strike the rock, and water will come out of it, so the people can drink." Moses did this while the elders of Israel watched.

6Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

NoteHoreb is another name for the mountain elsewhere called Sinai; the two names are used for the same place in the Hebrew Bible.

7He named the place Massah and Meribah, because the people of Israel argued there, and because they tested the LORD, saying, "Is the LORD among us, or not?"

7And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the LORD, saying, Is the LORD among us, or not?

NoteThe two names are ordinary Hebrew words: Massah means "testing" and Meribah means "quarrelling" or "dispute." The verse is explaining that the place was named after what happened there, a wordplay that disappears when the names are left untranslated.

8Then Amalek came and fought against Israel at Rephidim.

8Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.

NoteAmalek is used here as a single name for a whole people, the Amalekites, nomadic groups who ranged over the dry country south of Canaan and into Sinai, and who are elsewhere traced back to Esau. Ancient writers regularly name a nation after its ancestor, so "Amalek fought" means "the Amalekites fought."

9Moses said to Joshua, "Choose men for us, and go out and fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand."

9And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine hand.

NoteThis is the first appearance of Joshua, who acts throughout Exodus as Moses' assistant. "The staff of God" is the same rod named in verse 5, called that because it was the instrument through which God had acted, not because it was itself an object of worship.

10So Joshua did as Moses had told him and fought against Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

10So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

NoteHur appears only a few times in the Bible, always alongside Aaron as one of the men left in charge when Moses was absent; nothing more is said of who he was.

11Whenever Moses held up his hand, Israel was winning; and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek was winning.

11And it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

NoteLifting the hands was the ordinary bodily posture for prayer in the ancient Near East, and a raised staff could also serve as a visible signal to troops in the field; the Hebrew leaves both senses open. Note that the King James has the singular "hand" here and "hands" in the next verse, following a shift in the Hebrew itself.

12But Moses' hands grew heavy. So they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other, and his hands stayed steady until the sun went down.

12But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

13And Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the sword.

13And Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

Note"Discomfited" in the King James means overwhelmed or routed in battle, not merely disconcerted. "The edge of the sword" translates a Hebrew idiom that literally reads "the mouth of the sword", a standard phrase for killing in battle.

14Then the LORD said to Moses, "Write this in a book so it will be remembered, and say it out loud for Joshua to hear: I will completely wipe out the memory of Amalek from under the sky."

14And the LORD said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.

NoteA "book" at this date meant a scroll of leather or papyrus, not bound pages. "Rehearse it in the ears of Joshua" means recite it aloud to him, the normal way a written record was passed on in a largely oral culture. Blotting a name "out from under heaven" draws on the practice of erasing writing from a document: to wipe out the name is to leave no record that the people ever existed.

15Moses built an altar and named it Jehovah-nissi.

15And Moses built an altar, and called the name of it Jehovahnissi:

NoteJehovah-nissi is untranslated Hebrew meaning "the LORD is my banner." A "banner" (Hebrew nes) was a pole or standard raised on high ground as a rallying point for troops or a signal visible at a distance. "Jehovah" is an older English rendering of the divine name YHWH, formed by combining its consonants with the vowels of another Hebrew word.

16For he said, "The LORD has sworn that the LORD will be at war with Amalek from one generation to the next."

16For he said, Because the LORD hath sworn that the LORD will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.

NoteThis verse is difficult in Hebrew and the wording is disputed. The text reads roughly "a hand upon the throne of YAH" (YAH being a short form of the divine name), and the word rendered "throne" is spelled unusually. A hand placed on something was the gesture that accompanied an oath, which is why the King James translators read it as "the LORD hath sworn"; other translators keep the literal "a hand was lifted toward the throne of the LORD" and leave whose hand it is unresolved.