Numbers 20

In the first month, the people of Israel, the whole community, came into the desert of Zin, and the people stayed at Kadesh. Miriam died there, and she was buried there.

1Then came the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, into the desert of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there.

NoteThe Hebrew gives a month but no year, and the narrative has jumped forward: the previous chapters cover the beginning of the wilderness period, and this chapter picks up near its end, close to forty years later. "Zin" is a district south of Canaan; it is a different word from the "Sin" of Exodus. Kadesh (also called Kadesh-barnea) was an oasis settlement on the southern edge of Canaan, the base from which the spies had earlier been sent out. Miriam is the sister of Moses and Aaron, named as a prophet in Exodus 15.

2There was no water for the community, so they gathered together to complain against Moses and Aaron.

2And there was no water for the congregation: and they gathered themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.

3The people argued with Moses and said, "We wish we had died when our relatives died in front of the LORD!

3And the people chode with Moses, and spake, saying, Would God that we had died when our brethren died before the LORD!

Note"Our relatives who died in front of the LORD" points back to the Israelites killed in earlier rebellions during the wilderness years, the sudden deaths described in Numbers 11, 14 and 16. The complaint is that a quick death then would have been better than dying of thirst now.

4Why have you brought the LORD's people out into this desert, so that we and our animals would die here?

4And why have ye brought up the congregation of the LORD into this wilderness, that we and our cattle should die there?

5Why did you make us leave Egypt and bring us to this terrible place? Nothing grows here: no grain, no figs, no grapevines, no pomegranates. And there is no water to drink!"

5And wherefore have ye made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in unto this evil place? it is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.

NoteGrain, figs, grapevines and pomegranates are the standard shorthand in Hebrew for settled, cultivated, well-watered farmland. Listing all four and then saying none of them are here is a way of saying the place cannot support human life at all.

6So Moses and Aaron left the crowd and went to the entrance of the tent of meeting. They bowed down with their faces to the ground, and the glory of the LORD appeared to them.

6And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly unto the door of the tabernacle of the congregation, and they fell upon their faces: and the glory of the LORD appeared unto them.

NoteThe tent of meeting was the portable sanctuary the Israelites carried and set up at the center of the camp; it is the same structure older translations call the tabernacle. "The glory of the LORD" translates a Hebrew phrase for a visible blaze of light or cloud understood as God's presence made perceptible, not a description of God's character.

7The LORD said to Moses,

7And the LORD spake unto Moses, saying,

8"Take the staff, and you and your brother Aaron gather the people together. Speak to the rock while they watch, and it will pour out its water. You will bring water out of the rock for the people and their animals to drink."

8Take the rod, and gather thou the assembly together, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes; and it shall give forth his water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.

Note"The staff" is a specific one, kept stored in the sanctuary "in front of the LORD" (verse 9); Numbers 17 describes Aaron's staff being placed there after it sprouted. The instruction is to speak to the rock, not to strike it, which matters for what happens in verse 11.

9So Moses took the staff from in front of the LORD, just as the LORD had commanded him.

9And Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him.

10Moses and Aaron gathered the people together in front of the rock, and Moses said to them, "Listen now, you rebels. Must we bring water out of this rock for you?"

10And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?

NoteThe Hebrew is "must we bring water out," using "we" of Moses and Aaron. Readers and translators have long disagreed about exactly what Moses does wrong here, striking the rock instead of speaking to it, hitting it twice, the anger, the word "we," or the insult "you rebels." The text itself does not say; verse 12 gives only a general charge.

11Then Moses raised his hand and hit the rock twice with his staff. Water came pouring out, and the people and their animals drank.

11And Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice: and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts also.

12But the LORD said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust me enough to treat me as holy in front of the people of Israel, you will not bring this community into the land I have given them."

12And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.

Note"To treat me as holy" renders a Hebrew verb meaning to set apart as sacred, to publicly acknowledge as belonging to a different order from ordinary things. The complaint is about how Moses and Aaron handled the moment in front of the watching people, not about a private belief.

13These were the waters of Meribah, where the people of Israel quarreled with the LORD, and where he showed that he is holy among them.

13This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them.

NoteMeribah means "quarrelling" or "contention" in Hebrew, and the verse is a wordplay: the place is called Quarreling because the people quarreled there. The second half uses the same root as "holy" in verse 12. A different water-from-a-rock episode, earlier and at a different place, is also named Meribah in Exodus 17.

14From Kadesh, Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom with this message: "This is what your brother Israel says: You know about all the hardship that has come upon us.

14And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that hath befallen us:

NoteEdom was the kingdom in the highlands southeast of the Dead Sea. Calling its king "your brother" is not flattery: Edomites were reckoned as descendants of Esau, and Israelites as descendants of Esau's twin brother Jacob, who was also named Israel. The message is framed as one clan head addressing a kinsman, which carries an expectation of hospitality.

15Our ancestors went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time. The Egyptians treated us and our ancestors badly.

15How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we have dwelt in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians vexed us, and our fathers:

16When we cried out to the LORD, he heard us. He sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. Now here we are at Kadesh, a town on the far edge of your territory.

16And when we cried unto the LORD, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and hath brought us forth out of Egypt: and, behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of thy border:

NoteThe Hebrew word translated "angel" simply means "messenger", a being or person sent on someone's behalf. Whether the sender's representative here is understood as heavenly or human, the point in a diplomatic letter is the claim of powerful backing.

17Please let us pass through your country. We will not go through any field or vineyard, and we will not drink water from any well. We will stay on the King's Highway and not turn aside until we have passed through your land."

17Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country: we will not pass through the fields, or through the vineyards, neither will we drink of the water of the wells: we will go by the king’s high way, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed thy borders.

NoteThe King's Highway was a real, named trade route running north–south through the highlands east of the Jordan, used for caravan traffic. The promise not to enter fields or vineyards or use the wells is the standard undertaking of a passing army or migrating group: those were the resources a large body of people and livestock would otherwise strip.

18But Edom answered him, "You may not pass through my land. If you try, I will come out against you with the sword."

18And Edom said unto him, Thou shalt not pass by me, lest I come out against thee with the sword.

19The people of Israel said to him, "We will stay on the main road. If we or our livestock drink any of your water, we will pay for it. It is nothing; just let us pass through on foot."

19And the children of Israel said unto him, We will go by the high way: and if I and my cattle drink of thy water, then I will pay for it: I will only, without doing anything else, go through on my feet.

Note"It is nothing" translates a Hebrew phrase meaning roughly "it is a trivial matter" or "there will be no trouble", the sense is that Israel is asking for something small and costless. "On foot" means simply passing straight through without stopping or settling.

20But Edom said, "You may not pass through." Then Edom marched out against them with a large army and great force.

20And he said, Thou shalt not go through. And Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand.

Note"With a strong hand" is a Hebrew idiom for overwhelming armed force. Edom answers a diplomatic request with a military deployment on its border.

21So Edom refused to let Israel pass through its territory, and Israel turned away and went another direction.

21Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: wherefore Israel turned away from him.

22The people of Israel, the whole community, set out from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor.

22And the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh, and came unto mount Hor.

23At Mount Hor, near the border of the land of Edom, the LORD said to Moses and Aaron,

23And the LORD spake unto Moses and Aaron in mount Hor, by the coast of the land of Edom, saying,

24"Aaron will be gathered to his people. He will not enter the land I have given to the people of Israel, because the two of you disobeyed my command at the waters of Meribah.

24Aaron shall be gathered unto his people: for he shall not enter into the land which I have given unto the children of Israel, because ye rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah.

Note"Gathered to his people" is the standard Hebrew way of speaking of death, drawn from the practice of burying family members together in a shared tomb so that the dead literally joined their ancestors. It is used of a person's death without specifying anything about what follows it.

25Take Aaron and his son Eleazar, and bring them up Mount Hor.

25Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up unto mount Hor:

26Take off Aaron's priestly clothes and put them on his son Eleazar. Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will die there."

26And strip Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son: and Aaron shall be gathered unto his people, and shall die there.

NoteThe priestly clothing was official regalia, not personal property: an elaborate set of garments described in Exodus 28 that marked the one man who held the office of chief priest. Transferring them from father to son on the mountain is the act that makes Eleazar chief priest in Aaron's place, an installation ceremony, done in public view (verse 27) so that everyone has seen the succession.

27Moses did what the LORD commanded. They climbed up Mount Hor while the whole community watched.

27And Moses did as the LORD commanded: and they went up into mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.

28Moses took off Aaron's priestly clothes and put them on his son Eleazar. Aaron died there on top of the mountain, and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.

28And Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them upon Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there in the top of the mount: and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mount.

29When the whole community saw that Aaron was dead, all the people of Israel mourned for him for thirty days.

29And when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they mourned for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.

NoteThirty days was the full formal mourning period reserved for a figure of the first rank; the same length is recorded later for Moses. Ordinary mourning was seven days.