Numbers 20:2–13

Now there was no water^d for the community,^e and the people gathered in opposition^f to Moses and Aaron. They quarreled^g with Moses and said, “If only we had died when our brothers fell dead^h before the Lord!ⁱ Why did you bring the Lord’s community into this wilderness,^j that we and our livestock should die here?^k Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to this terrible place? It has no grain or figs, grapevines or pomegranates.^l And there is no water to drink!^m”

Moses and Aaron went from the assembly to the entrance to the tent of meetingⁿ and fell facedown,^o and the glory of the Lord^p appeared to them. The Lord said to Moses, “Take the staff,^q and you and your brother Aaron gather the assembly together. Speak to that rock before their eyes and it will pour out its water.^r You will bring water out of the rock for the community so they and their livestock can drink.”

So Moses took the staff^s from the Lord’s presence,^t just as he commanded him. He and Aaron gathered the assembly together^u in front of the rock and Moses said to them, “Listen, you rebels, must we bring you water out of this rock?”^v Then Moses raised his arm and struck the rock twice with his staff. Water^w gushed out, and the community and their livestock drank.

But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me enough to honor me as holy^x in the sight of the Israelites, you will not bring this community into the land I give them.”^y

These were the waters of Meribah,^z where the Israelites quarreled^a with the Lord and where he was proved holy among them.^b