Numbers 20

1 In the first month all the children of Israel came into the waste land of Zin, and put up their tents in Kadesh; there death came to Miriam, and they put her body to rest in the earth.

And the children of Israel, and all the multitude came into the desert of Sin, in the first month: and the people abode in Cades. And Mary died there, and was buried in the same place.

2 And there was no water for the people: and they came together against Moses and against Aaron.

And the people wanting water, came together against Moses and Aaron:

3 And the people were angry with Moses and said, If only death had overtaken us when our brothers came to their death before the Lord!

And making a sedition, they said: Would God we had perished among our brethren before the Lord.

4 Why have you taken the Lord's people into this waste, for death to come to us and to our cattle there?

Why have you brought out the church of the Lord into the wilderness, that both we and our cattle should die?

5 Why have you made us come out of Egypt into this evil place? This is no place of seed or figs or vines or other fruits, and there is no water for drinking.

Why have you made us come up out of Egypt, and have brought us into this wretched place which cannot be sowed, nor bringeth forth figs, nor vines, nor pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink?

6 Then Moses and Aaron went away from the people to the door of the Tent of meeting; and, falling on their faces there, they saw the glory of the Lord.

And Moses and Aaron leaving the multitude, went into the tabernacle of the covenant, and fell flat upon the ground, and cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord God, hear the cry of this people, and open to them thy treasure, a fountain of living water, that being satisfied, they may cease to murmur. And the glory of the Lord appeared over them.

7 And the Lord said to Moses,

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

8 Take the rod, you and Aaron, your brother, and make all the people come together, and before their eyes give orders to the rock to give out its water; and so make water come out of the rock for them, and give the people and their cattle drink.

Take the rod, and assemble the people together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak to the rock before them, and it shall yield waters. And when thou hast brought forth water out of the rock, all the multitude and their cattle shall drink.

9 And Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he gave him orders.

Moses therefore took the rod, which was before the Lord, as he had commanded him,

10 Then Moses and Aaron made the people come together in front of the rock, and he said to them, Give ear now, you people whose hearts are turned from the Lord; are we to get water for you out of the rock?

And having gathered together the multitude before the rock, he said to them: Hear, ye rebellious and incredulous: Can we bring you forth water out of this rock?

11 And lifting up his hand, Moses gave the rock two blows with his rod: and water came streaming out, and the people and their cattle had drink enough.

And when Moses had lifted up his hand, and struck the rock twice with the rod, there came forth water in great abundance, so that the people and their cattle drank,

12 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you had not enough faith in me to keep my name holy before the children of Israel, you will not take this people into the land which I have given them.

And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Because you have not believed me, to sanctify me before the children of Israel, you shall not bring these people into the land, which I will give them.

13 These are the waters of Meribah; because the children of Israel went against the Lord, and they saw that he was holy among them.

This is the Water of contradiction, where the children of Israel strove with words against the Lord, and he was sanctified in them.

14 Then Moses sent men from Kadesh to the king of Edom to say to him, Your brother Israel says, You have knowledge of all the things we have been through;

In the mean time Moses sent messengers from Cades to the king of Edom, to say: Thus saith thy brother Israel: Thou knowest all the labour that hath come upon us:

15 How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we were living in Egypt for a long time; and the Egyptians were cruel to us and to our fathers:

In what manner our fathers went down into Egypt, and there we dwelt a long time, and the Egyptians afflicted us and our fathers.

16 And the Lord gave ear to the voice of our cry, and sent an angel and took us out of Egypt: and now we are in Kadesh, a town on the edge of your land;

And how we cried to the Lord, and he heard us, and sent an angel, who hath brought us out of Egypt. Lo, we are now in the city of Cades, which is in the uttermost of thy borders,

17 Let us now go through your land: we will not go into field or vine-garden, or take the water of the springs; we will go by the highway, not turning to the right or to the left, till we have gone past the limits of your land.

And we beseech thee that we may have leave to pass through thy country. We will not go through the fields, nor through the vineyards, we will not drink the waters of thy wells, but we will go by the common highway, neither turning aside to the right hand, nor to the left, till we are past thy borders.

18 And Edom said, You are not to go through my land, for if you do I will come out against you with the sword.

And Edom answered them: Thou shalt not pass by me: if thou dost I will come out armed against thee.

19 And the children of Israel said to him, We will go up by the highway: and if we or our cattle take of your water, we will give you a price for it: only let us go through on our feet, nothing more.

And the children of Israel said: We will go by the beaten way: and if we and our cattle drink of thy waters, we will give thee what is just: there shall be no difficulty in the price, only let us pass speedily.

20 But he said, You are not to go through. And Edom came out against them in his strength, with a great army.

But he answered: Thou shalt not pass. And immediately he came forth to meet them with an infinite multitude, and a strong hand,

21 So Edom would not let Israel go through his land; and Israel went in another direction.

Neither would he condescend to their desire to grant them passage through his borders. Wherefore Israel turned another way from him.

22 And they went on from Kadesh, and came, with all their people, to Mount Hor.

And when they had removed the camp from Cades, they came to mount Her, which is in the borders of the land of Edom:

23 And at Mount Hor, at the edge of the land of Edom, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,

Where the Lord spoke to Moses:

24 Aaron will be put to rest with his people; he will not go into the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you went against my word at the waters of Meribah.

Let Aaron, saith he, go to his people: for he shall not go into the land which I have given the children of Israel, because he was incredulous to my words, at the waters of contradiction.

25 So take Aaron and Eleazar, his son, up into Mount Hor;

Take Aaron and his son with him, and bring them up into mount Hor:

26 And take Aaron's robes off him and put them on Eleazar, his son: and death will come to Aaron there, and he will be put to rest with his people.

And when thou hast stripped the father of his vesture, thou shalt vest therewith Eleazar his son: Aaron shall be gathered to his people, and die there.

27 So Moses did as the Lord had said, and before the eyes of all the people they went up Mount Hor.

Moses did as the Lord had commanded: and they went up into mount Hor before all the multitude.

28 And Moses took off Aaron's robes, and put them on Eleazar, his son; and there on the top of the mountain death came to Aaron: then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.

And when he had stripped Aaron of his vestments, he vested Eleazar his son with them. And Aaron being dead in the top of the mountain, he came down with Eleazar.

29 And when the people saw that Aaron was dead, all the children of Israel gave themselves up to weeping for him for thirty days.

And all the multitude seeing that Aaron was dead, mourned for him thirty days throughout all their families.