Exodus 17

Water from the Rock

17Then ^aall the congregation of the children of Israel set out on their journey from the Wilderness of ^bSin, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to ^cdrink. ^2dTherefore the people contended with Moses, and said, “Give us water, that we may drink.”

So Moses said to them, “Why do you contend with me? Why do you ^etempt the Lord?”

³And the people thirsted there for water, and the people ^fcomplained against Moses, and said, “Why is it you have brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our ^glivestock with thirst?”

⁴So Moses ^hcried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready to ⁱstone ¹me!”

⁵And the Lord said to Moses, ^j“Go on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel. Also take in your hand your rod with which ^kyou struck the river, and go. ^6lBehold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb; and you 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. ⁷So he called the name of the place ^mMassah ²and ³Meribah, because of the contention of the children of Israel, and because they ⁴tempted the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

Victory Over the Amalekites

⁸ⁿNow Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. ⁹And Moses said to Joshua, “Choose us some men and go out, fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with ^othe rod of God in my hand.” ¹⁰So Joshua did as Moses said to him, and fought with Amalek. And Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. ¹¹And so it was, when Moses ^pheld up his hand, that Israel prevailed; and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. ¹²But Moses’ hands became ⁵heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. And Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun. ¹³So Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

¹⁴Then the Lord said to Moses, ^q“Write this for a memorial in the book and recount it in the hearing of Joshua, that ^rI will utterly blot out the remembrance of Amalek from under heaven.” ¹⁵And Moses built an altar and called its name, ⁶The-Lord-Is-My-Banner; ¹⁶for he said, “Because ⁷the Lord has ^ssworn: the Lord will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.”