Exodus 17:1–16

Water in the Rock

¹Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by ¹stages from the wilderness of ^aSin, according to the ²command of the Lord, and camped at ^bRephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink.

²Therefore the people ^aquarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “^bWhy do you quarrel with me? ^cWhy do you test the Lord?”

³But the people thirsted there for water; and ¹they ^agrumbled against Moses and said, “Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill ²us and ³our children and ^bour livestock with thirst?”

⁴So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do to this people? A ^alittle more and they will stone me.”

⁵Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pass before the people and take with you some of ^athe elders of Israel; and take in your hand your staff with which ^byou struck the Nile, and go.

⁶“Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at ^aHoreb; and ^byou shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

⁷He named the place ^1aMassah and ^2bMeribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they ^ctested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us, or not?”

Amalek Fought

⁸Then ^aAmalek came and fought against Israel at ^bRephidim.

⁹So Moses said to ^aJoshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will station myself on the top of the hill with ^bthe staff of God in my hand.”

¹⁰Joshua did as Moses ¹told him, ²and fought against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and ^aHur went up to the top of the hill.

¹¹So it came about when Moses held his hand up, that Israel prevailed, and when he let his hand ¹down, Amalek prevailed.

¹²But Moses’ hands were heavy. Then they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it; and Aaron and Hur ^asupported his hands, one on one side and one on the other. Thus his hands were steady until the sun set.

¹³So Joshua ¹overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

¹⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, “^aWrite this in ¹a book as a memorial and ²recite it to Joshua, ³that ^bI will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”

¹⁵Moses built an ^aaltar and named it ^bThe Lord is My Banner;

¹⁶and he said, “^1aThe Lord has sworn; the Lord will have war against Amalek from generation to generation.”