Numbers 12

1 And Mary and Aaron spoke against Moses, because of his wife the Ethiopian,

[Moses’/My older sister] Miriam and [his/my older brother] Aaron were saying this: “Is Moses the only one to whom Yahweh has spoken messages to tell to us [RHQ]? Does Yahweh not speak messages to us two also?” [They told people that] they were saying that because Moses/I had married a woman who was a descendant of the Cush people-group, [but they were really saying that because they (were jealous/did not want Moses/me to be the only leader of the Israeli people)]. But Yahweh heard what they were saying.

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,

3 (For Moses was a man exceeding meek above all men that dwelt upon earth)

[The truth was that] Moses/I was very humble. He/I was more humble than anyone else on the earth [and Moses/I had not appointed himself/myself to be their leader].

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,

So immediately Yahweh spoke to Moses/me and to Aaron and Miriam. He said, “All three of you must go and stand at the Sacred Tent.” So they/we did that.

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,

Then Yahweh descended to the entrance of the tent in a cloud [that resembled a huge white] pillar. He told Aaron and Miriam to step forward, so they did.

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.

Then he said to them, “Listen to me! When a prophet is among you, I [usually] reveal myself to him by allowing him to see visions, and I speak to him in dreams.

7 But it is not so with my servant Moses a who is most faithful in all my house:

But that is not the way I speak to my servant Moses. I trust that he will lead my people [well].

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?

So I talk to him face-to-face. I speak to him (clearly/using words that he will understand easily), not using parables. He has even seen what I look like. So you should be afraid to criticize my servant Moses!”

9 And being angry with them he went away:

Yahweh was very angry with Miriam and Aaron, and he left.

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,

When the cloud rose up from the Sacred Tent, Aaron looked at Miriam, and he saw that her skin was [as white] as snow, because she now had leprosy.

11 He said to Moses: I beseech thee, my lord, lay not upon us this sin, which we have foolishly committed:

Aaron said to Moses/me, “My master, please do not punish us for this sin that we have foolishly committed.

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.

Do not allow Miriam to be like a baby that is already dead when it is born, whose flesh is already half decayed!”

13 And Moses cried to the Lord, saying: O God, I beseech thee heal her.

So Moses/I cried out to Yahweh, saying, “God, I plead with you to heal her!”

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.

But Yahweh replied, “If her father had [rebuked her for doing something wrong by] spitting in her face, she would have been ashamed for seven days. [She should be ashamed because of what she has done]. So send her outside the camp for seven days. Then [she will not have leprosy any more, and] she may return to the camp.”

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 they sent her outside the camp for seven days. (The people/We) did not move [to another location] until she returned.

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

But after [she returned], they/we left Hazeroth and moved [north] in the Paran Desert and set up their/our tents there.