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.
Obeying what Yahweh commanded, all the Israeli people moved from the Sin Desert. They/We traveled from one place to another. They/We camped at [a place named] Rephidim, but there was no water there for (the people/us) 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?
So the people complained to Moses/me again, saying, “Give us water to drink!” Moses/I replied to them, “Why are you (criticizing/arguing with) me [RHQ]? And why are you trying to determine whether Yahweh [has the power to provide for you]?”
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 very thirsty, and they continued to complain to Moses/me. They were saying things like “Why did you bring us out of Egypt?”, and “Did you bring us here to cause us and our children and livestock to die (from thirst/because we had no water to drink) [RHQ]?”
4 And Moses cried to the Lord, saying: What shall I do to this people? Yet a little more and they will stone me.
So Moses/I prayed earnestly to Yahweh. He/I said, “(How shall I deal with these people?/I do not know how to deal with these people!) [RHQ] They are almost ready to [kill me by throwing] stones at 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.
Yahweh replied to Moses/me, “Take some of the elders/leaders of the Israeli people with you and [tell the rest of] the people to follow you [to Sinai Mountain]. Take along the stick with which you struck the Nile [River].
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:
Listen carefully: I will stand in front of you on top of a [large] rock at the foot of the mountain. Strike the rock with your stick. [When you do that], water for the people to drink will flow out of the rock.” [When they/we arrived at the mountain], Moses/I did that while the Israeli elders were watching, [and water flowed from the rock].
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?
Moses/I gave that place two names [in the Hebrew language: ] Massah, [which means ‘testing’], and Meribah, [which means ‘complaining’]. He/I gave it the name Massah because the Israeli people were testing Yahweh, saying “Is Yahweh really among us [and able to help us], or not?”, and he/I gave it the name Meribah because they were [continually] complaining.
8 And Amalec came, and fought against Israel in Raphidim.
Then the descendants of the Amalek people-group came and fought against the Israeli people 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/I said to Joshua, [who was one of our army/Israeli leaders], “Choose some men to go out and fight against the Amalek people-group tomorrow. I will stand on the top of the hill, holding the stick that God told me to carry.”
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.
So Joshua did what Moses/I told him to do. He took some men to fight against the Amalek people-group. [While they were fighting], Aaron, Hur, and Moses/I went up to the top of the hill [so that they/we could see the whole battle area].
11 And when Moses lifted up his hands, Israel overcame: but if he let them down a little, Amalec overcame.
Whenever Moses/I lifted up his/my arms, the Israeli men started to win [the battle]. And whenever he/I lowered his/my arms, the Amalek people-group started to win.
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.
But his/my arms became tired. So Aaron and Hur [rolled] a [large] stone for Moses/me to sit on. [While he/I was sitting on it], those two held up his/my arms, [one on one side and the other on the other side]. In that way, they kept his/my arms lifted up, and his/my arms held steady until the sun went down.
13 And Josue put Amalec and his people to flight, by the edge of the sword.
So Joshua and the men with him completely defeated the Amalek people-group, using their swords [to fight against them].
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.
Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Write an account of this battle, and then read it to Joshua. [Also write that some day] I will completely get rid of the Amalek people-group.”
15 And Moses built an altar: and called the name thereof, The Lord my exaltation, saying:
Then Moses/I built a [stone] altar there and named it ‘Yahweh is [like] my flag’.
16 Because the hand of the throne of the Lord, and the war of the Lord shall be against Amalec, from generation to generation.
He/I said, “Hold high Yahweh’s flag! Yahweh will continue to fight against the Amalek people-group (forever/in all future generations)!”
