¹The whole community of Israelites left the desert of Sin and traveled from place to place as the Lord commanded them. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ²So they complained to Moses by saying, “Give us water to drink!”

Moses said to them, “Why are you complaining to me? Why are you testing the Lord?”

³But the people were thirsty for water there. They complained to Moses and asked, “Why did you bring us out of Egypt? Was it to make us, our children, and our livestock die of thirst?”

⁴So Moses cried out to the Lord, “What should I do with these people? They’re almost ready to stone me!”

⁵The Lord answered Moses, “Bring some of the leaders of Israel with you, and go to where the people can see you. Take the staff you used to strike the Nile River. ⁶I’ll be standing in front of you there by a rock at Mount Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.”

Moses did this while the leaders of Israel watched him.

⁷He named that place Massah ^[Testing^[ and Meribah ^[Complaining^[ because the Israelites complained and because they tested the Lord, asking, “Is the Lord with us or not?”

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Footnotes

[Proper names or foreign words whose meaning is significant for understanding a particular Bible passage are translated in brackets following the name or phrase