²There was no water for the community, and they were gathered before Moses and Aaron. ³And the people quarreled with Moses and spoke, saying, “If only we died when our brothers were dying before^b Yahweh! ⁴Why have you brought the assembly of Yahweh, us and our livestock, into this desert to die here? ⁵Why have you brought us from Egypt to bring us to this bad place? It is not a place of seed or figs^c or vines^d or pomegranate trees,^e and there is not water to drink.” ⁶And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of assembly. They fell on their faces, and the glory of Yahweh appeared to them. ⁷Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ⁸“Take the staff and summon the community, you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will give water. Bring out for them water from the rock, and let the community and their livestock drink.”

⁹So Moses took the staff from before^f Yahweh just as he command him, ¹⁰and Moses and Aaron summoned the assembly to the presence of the rock, and he said to them, “Please listen, you rebels; can we bring out water for you from this rock?” ¹¹Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice. And abundant water went out, and the community and their livestock drank. ¹²But Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you have not trusted in me, to regard me as holy in the sight of^g the Israelites,^h you will not bring this assembly into the land that I have given to them.” ¹³Those were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelitesⁱ quarreled with Yahweh, and he showed himself holy among them.

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Footnotes

bLiterally “in the presence of”
cHebrew “fig”
dHebrew “vine”
eHebrew “tree”
fLiterally “in the presence of”
gOr “before the eyes of”
hLiterally “sons/children of Israel”
iLiterally “sons/children of Israel”