²And the people quarreled with Moses, and they said, “Give us water so that we can drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?” ³And the people thirsted for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why ever^b did you bring us up from Egypt to kill me^c and my sons and my cattle with thirst?”

⁴And Moses cried out to Yahweh, saying, “What will I do with this people? A little longer and they will stone me.” ⁵And Yahweh said to Moses, “Go on before the people and take with you some from the elders of Israel, and the staff with which you struck the Nile take in your hand, and go. ⁶Look, I will be standing before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you will strike the rock, and water will come out from it, and the people will drink.”

And Moses did so before the eyes of the elders of Israel. ⁷And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the Israelites^d and because of their testing Yahweh by saying, “Is Yahweh in our midst or not?”

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Footnotes

bOr “at all”; literally “this”
cThe unexpected switch to first-person singular pronouns reflects the fact that the question summarizes a host of angry accusations and self-centered concern
dLiterally “sons/children of Israel”