Numbers 12

CHAPTER 12

Miriam and Aaron Speak Against Moses

¹Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had taken as a wife (for he had taken a ^aCushite woman);

^2aand they said, “Has Yahweh indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” And Yahweh heard it.

³(Now the man Moses was ^avery humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.)

⁴Suddenly Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam, “You three come out to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them came out.

^5aThen Yahweh came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and He called ¹Aaron and Miriam. And then both came forward,

⁶and He said,

“Hear now My words:

If there is a prophet among you,

I, Yahweh, shall make Myself known to him in a ^avision.

I shall speak with him in a ^bdream.

⁷“Not so, with ^aMy servant Moses,

^bHe is faithful in all My household;

^8aWith him I speak mouth to mouth,

Indeed clearly, and not in riddles,

And he beholds ^bthe form of Yahweh.

Why then were you not afraid

To speak against My servant, against Moses?”

⁹So the anger of Yahweh burned against them, and ^aHe went away.

¹⁰But the cloud withdrew from over the tent, and behold, ^aMiriam was leprous, as ^bwhite as snow. And Aaron turned toward Miriam, and behold, she was leprous.

¹¹Then Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, I beg you, ^ado not place this sin on us, in which we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned.

¹²“Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother’s womb!”

¹³And Moses cried out to Yahweh, saying, “O God, ^aheal her, I pray!”

¹⁴But Yahweh said to Moses, “If her father had but ^aspit in her face, would she not bear her dishonor for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days ^boutside the camp, and afterward she may be received again.”

¹⁵So ^aMiriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not set out until Miriam was received again.

¹⁶Afterward, however, the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.