Numbers 12

1 And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses, because of his wife, an Ethiopian,

Now Miriam and Aaron said evil against Moses, because of the Cushite woman to whom he was married, for he had taken a Cushite woman as his wife.

2 and they said: “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Has he not also spoken similarly to us?” And when the Lord had heard this,

And they said, Have the words of the Lord been given to Moses only? have they not come to us? And the Lord took note of it.

3 (for Moses was a man exceedingly meek, beyond all the men who were living upon the earth)

Now the man Moses was more gentle than any other man on earth.

4 immediately he spoke to him, and to Aaron and Miriam, “Go out, you three only, to the tabernacle of the covenant.” And when they had gone out,

And suddenly the Lord said to Moses and Aaron and Miriam, Come out, you three, to the Tent of meeting. And the three of them went out.

5 the Lord descended in a column of cloud, and he stood at the entrance of the tabernacle, calling to Aaron and Miriam. And when they had advanced,

And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, taking his place at the door of the Tent, and made Aaron and Miriam come before him.

6 he said to them: “Listen to my words. If there will be among you a prophet of the Lord, I will appear to him in a vision, or I will speak to him through a dream.

And he said, Now give ear to my words: if there is a prophet among you I will give him knowledge of myself in a vision and will let my words come to him in a dream.

7 But it is not so with my servant Moses, who is the most faithful in all my house.

My servant Moses is not so; he is true to me in all my house:

8 For I speak with him mouth to mouth, and plainly. And not through enigmas and figures does he perceive the Lord. Therefore, why were you not afraid to disparage my servant Moses?”

With him I will have talk mouth to mouth, openly and not in dark sayings; and with his eyes he will see the form of the Lord: why then had you no fear of saying evil against my servant Moses?

9 And being angry against them, he went away.

And burning with wrath against them, the Lord went away.

10 Likewise, the cloud which was over the tabernacle withdrew. And behold, Miriam appeared to be white with a leprosy, like snow. And when Aaron had looked upon her, and he had seen the spreading of the leprosy,

And the cloud was moved from over the Tent; and straight away Miriam became a leper, as white as snow: and Aaron, looking at Miriam, saw that she was a leper.

11 he said to Moses: “I beg you, my lord, not to impose upon us this sin, which we have committed foolishly.

Then Aaron said to Moses, O my lord, let not our sin be on our heads, for we have done foolishly and are sinners.

12 Do not let this one be like one who is dead, or like an abortion that has been cast from the womb of her mother. Behold, half of her flesh is already consumed by leprosy.”

Let her not be as one dead, whose flesh is half wasted when he comes out from the body of his mother.

13 And Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “O God, I beg you: heal her.”

And Moses, crying to the Lord, said, Let my prayer come before you, O God, and make her well.

14 And the Lord answered him: “If her father had spit on her face, should she not have been filled with shame for at least seven days? Let her be separated, outside the camp, for seven days, and after that, she will be called back.”

And the Lord said to Moses, If her father had put a mark of shame on her, would she not be shamed for seven days? Let her be shut up outside the tent-circle for seven days, and after that she may come in again.

15 And so Miriam was excluded from the camp for seven days. And the people did not move from that place, until Miriam was called back.

So Miriam was shut up outside the tent-circle for seven days: and the people did not go forward on their journey till Miriam had come in again.

16 And the people set out from Hazeroth, and they pitched their tents in the desert of Paran.

After that, the people went on from Hazeroth and put up their tents in the waste land of Paran.