Numbers 12

1 And Mary and Aaron spoke against Moses, because of his wife the 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: Hath the Lord spoken by Moses only? hath he not also spoken to us in like manner? And when the Lord 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 exceeding meek above all men that dwelt upon earth)

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

4 Immediately he spoke to him, and to Aaron and Mary: Come out you three only to the tabernacle of the covenant. And when they were come 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 came down in a pillar of the cloud, and stood in the entry of the tabernacle calling to Aaron and Mary. And when they were come,

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: Hear my words: if there be among you a prophet of the Lord, I will appear to him in a vision, or I will speak to him in 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 a who is 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 to him mouth to mouth: and plainly, and not by riddles and figures doth he see the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak ill of 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 with them he went away:

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

10 The cloud also that was over the tabernacle departed: and behold Mary appeared white as snow with a leprosy. And when Aaron had looked on her, and saw her all covered with 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 beseech thee, my lord, lay not upon us this sin, which we have foolishly committed:

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 Let her not be as one dead, and as an abortive that is cast forth from the mother’s womb. Lo, now one half of her flesh is consumed with the 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 to the Lord, saying: O God, I beseech thee 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 spitten upon her face, ought she not to have been ashamed for seven days at least? Let her be separated seven days without the camp, and after wards she shall be called again.

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 Mary therefore was put out of the camp seven days: and the people moved not from that place until Mary was called again.

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 marched from Haseroth, and pitched their tents in the desert of Pharan.

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