Numbers 20:4–21

⁴“^aWhy then have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this wilderness, for us and our beasts to die ¹here?

⁵“Why have you made us come up from Egypt, to bring us in to this wretched place? ^aIt is not a place of ¹grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, nor is there water to drink.”

⁶Then Moses and Aaron came in from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of meeting and ^afell on their faces. Then the glory of the Lord appeared to them;

⁷and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

The Water of Meribah

⁸“Take ^athe rod; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it may yield its water. You shall thus bring forth water for them out of the rock and let the congregation and their beasts drink.”

⁹So Moses took the rod ^afrom before the Lord, just as He had commanded him;

¹⁰and Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock. And he said to them, “^aListen now, you rebels; shall we bring forth water for you out of this rock?”

¹¹Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his rod; and ^awater came forth abundantly, and the congregation and their beasts drank.

¹²But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “^aBecause you have not believed Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”

¹³Those were the waters of ^1aMeribah, ²because the sons of Israel contended with the Lord, and He proved Himself holy among them.

¹⁴From Kadesh Moses then sent messengers to ^athe king of Edom: “Thus your brother Israel has said, ‘You ^bknow all the hardship that has befallen us;

¹⁵that our fathers went down to Egypt, and we stayed in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians treated us and our fathers badly.

¹⁶‘But ^awhen we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice and sent ^ban angel and brought us out from Egypt; now behold, we are at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory.

¹⁷‘Please ^alet us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or through vineyard; we will not even drink water from a well. We will go along the king’s highway, not turning to the right or left, until we pass through your territory.’ ”

^18aEdom, however, said to him, “You shall not pass through ¹us, or I will come out with the sword against you.”

¹⁹Again, the sons of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway, and if I and ^amy livestock do drink any of your water, ^bthen I will ¹pay its price. Let me only pass through on my feet, ²nothing else.”

²⁰But he said, “^aYou shall not pass through.” And Edom came out against him with a heavy ¹force and with a strong hand.

^21aThus Edom refused to allow Israel to pass through his territory; ^bso Israel turned away from him.