Exodus 17
1 Then all the multitude of the children of Israel setting forward from the desert of Sin, by their mansions, according to the word of the Lord, encamped in Raphidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.
Then all the Israelites left the Desert of Sin, going from place to place as they followed the Lord's commands. They camped at Rephidim, but there wasn't any water for the people to drink.
2 And they chode with Moses, and said: Give us water, that we may drink. And Moses answered them: Why chide you with me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord?
Some of them came and complained to Moses, saying, “Give us water to drink!” Moses replied, “Why are you complaining to me?” Moses asked. “Why are you trying to challenge the Lord?”
3 So the people were thirsty there for want of water, and murmured against Moses, saying: Why didst thou make us go forth out of Egypt, to kill us and our children, and our beasts with thirst?
But the people were so thirsty for water there that they went on complaining to Moses, saying, “Why did you have to bring us out of Egypt? Are you trying to kill us and our children and livestock by thirst?”
4 And Moses cried to the Lord, saying: What shall I do to this people? Yet a little more and they will stone me.
Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I going to do with these people? A bit more of this and they're going to stone me!”
5 And the Lord said to Moses: God before the people, and take with thee of the ancients of Israel: and take in thy hand the rod wherewith thou didst strike the river, and go.
The Lord told Moses, “Go ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take with you the walking stick you used to hit the Nile, and just go on ahead.
6 Behold I will stand there before thee, upon the rock Horeb: and thou shalt strike the rock, and water shall come out of it that the people may drink. Moses did so before the ancients of Israel:
Look, I will stand there beside you by the rock at Horeb. When you hit the rock water will pour out for the people to drink.” So Moses did this as the elders of Israel watched.
7 And he called the name of that place Temptation, because the chiding of the children of Israel, and for that they tempted the Lord, saying: Is the Lord amongst us or not?
He called the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites argued there, and because they challenged the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord with us, or not?”
8 And Amalec came, and fought against Israel in Raphidim.
Then some Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.
9 And Moses said to Josue: Choose out men: and go out and fight against Amalec: tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill having the rod of God in my hand.
Moses told Joshua, “Choose some of men and go out and fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I'll stand on the top of this hill holding the walking stick of God.”
10 Josue did as Moses had spoken, and he fought against Amalec; but Moses, and Aaron, and Hur went up upon the top of the hill.
Joshua did what Moses told him and fought the Amalekites, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur climbed to the top of the hill.
11 And when Moses lifted up his hands, Israel overcame: but if he let them down a little, Amalec overcame.
As long as Moses held up the walking stick his hands, the Israelites were the ones winning, but when he lowered them, it was the Amalekites.
12 And Moses’ hands were heavy: so they took a stone, and put under him, and he sat on it: and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands on both sides. And it came to pass that his hands were not weary until sunset.
So when Moses' hands became heavy, the others took a stone and put it under him for him to sit on. Aaron and Hur stood on each side of Moses and held his hands up. In this way his hands were kept firmly up until the sun went down.
13 And Josue put Amalec and his people to flight, by the edge of the sword.
As a result Joshua defeated the Amalekite army.
14 And the Lord said to Moses: Write this for a memorial in a book, and deliver it to the ears of Josue: for I will destroy the memory of Amalec from under heaven.
The Lord told Moses, “Write all this down on a scroll as a reminder and read it out loud to Joshua, because I'm going to completely wipe out the Amalekites so nobody on earth will remember them.”
15 And Moses built an altar: and called the name thereof, The Lord my exaltation, saying:
Moses built an altar and called it “the Lord is my banner of victory.”
16 Because the hand of the throne of the Lord, and the war of the Lord shall be against Amalec, from generation to generation.
“Hold up the victory banner of the Lord!” Moses declared. “The Lord will go on fighting the Amalekites for all generations!”
