Numbers 20

New American Standard Bible

Death of Miriam

20 Then the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to the ^(A)wilderness of Zin in the first month; and the people stayed at Kadesh. Now Miriam died there and was buried there.

²^(B)There was no water for the congregation, ^(C)and they assembled against Moses and Aaron. ³^(D)Then the people argued with Moses and spoke, saying, “^(E)If only we had perished ^(F)when our brothers perished before the Lord! ⁴^(G)Why then have you brought the Lord’s assembly into this wilderness, for us and our livestock to die ^[a]here? ⁵Why did you make us come up from Egypt, to bring us into this wretched place? ^(H)It is not a place of ^[b]grain 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 entrance of the tent of meeting and ^(I)fell on their faces. And the glory of the Lord appeared to them; ⁷then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

The Waters of Meribah

⁸“Take ^(J)the staff; and you and your brother Aaron assemble the congregation and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it shall yield its water. So you shall bring water for them out of the rock, and have the congregation and their livestock drink.”

⁹So Moses took the staff ^(K)from before the Lord, just as He had commanded him; ¹⁰and Moses and Aaron summoned the assembly in front of the rock. And he said to them, “^(L)Listen now, you rebels; shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” ¹¹Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff; and ^(M)water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank. ¹²But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “^(N)Since you did not trust in Me, to treat Me as holy in the sight of the sons of Israel, for that reason you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.” ¹³Those were called the waters of ^[c]^(O)Meribah, ^[d]because the sons of Israel argued with the Lord, and He proved Himself holy among them.

¹⁴From Kadesh Moses then sent messengers to ^(P)the king of Edom to say, “This is what your brother Israel has said: ‘You ^(Q)know all the hardship that has ^[e]overtaken 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. ¹⁶But ^(R)when we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice and sent ^(S)an angel, and brought us out from Egypt; now behold, we are at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory. ¹⁷Please ^(T)let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard; we will not even drink water from a well. We will go along the king’s road, not turning to the right or left, until we pass through your territory.’”

¹⁸^(U)Edom, however, said to him, “You shall not pass through ^[f]us, or I will come out with the sword against you.” ¹⁹Again, the sons of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the road, and if I and ^(V)my livestock do drink any of your water, ^(W)then I will ^[g]pay its price. Let me only pass through on my feet, ^[h]nothing more.” ²⁰But he said, “^(X)You shall not pass through.” And Edom came out against him with a heavy ^[i]force and a strong hand. ²¹^(Y)So Edom refused to allow Israel to pass through his territory; ^(Z)then Israel turned away from him.

²²Now when they set out from ^(AA)Kadesh, the sons of Israel, the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor.

Death of Aaron

²³Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron at ^(AB)Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying, ²⁴“Aaron will be ^(AC)gathered to his people; for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the sons of Israel, because ^(AD)you rebelled against My ^[j]command at the waters of Meribah. ²⁵Take Aaron and his son ^(AE)Eleazar, and bring them up to Mount Hor. ²⁶Then strip Aaron of his garments and put them on his son Eleazar. So Aaron will be ^(AF)gathered to his people and will die there.” ²⁷So Moses did just as the Lord had commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. ²⁸And after Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and ^(AG)put them on his son Eleazar, ^(AH)Aaron died there on the mountain top. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹When all the congregation saw that Aaron had died, the whole house of Israel wept for Aaron for thirty ^(AI)days.