Exodus 17
1 And all the congregation of the children of Israel journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, after their journeys, according to the commandment of Yhwh, and pitched in Rephidim: and 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 Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt Yhwh?
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 And the people thirsted there for water; and the people murmured against Moses, and said, Wherefore is this that thou hast brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our cattle 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 unto Yhwh, saying, What shall I do unto this people? they be almost ready to 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 Yhwh said unto Moses, Go on before the people, and take with thee of the elders of Israel; and thy rod, wherewith thou smotest the river, take in thine hand, 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 before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and thou shalt smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that the people may drink. And Moses did so in the sight of the elders 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 the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted Yhwh, saying, Is Yhwh among 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 Then came Amalek, and fought with Israel in Rephidim.
Then the descendants of the Amalek people-group came and fought against the Israeli people at Rephidim.
9 And Moses said unto Joshua, Choose us out men, and go out, fight with Amalek: to morrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the rod of God in mine 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 So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, and fought with Amalek: and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to 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 it came to pass, when Moses held up his hand, that Israel prevailed: and when he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.
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 But Moses’ hands were heavy; and they took a stone, and put it under him, and he sat thereon; and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands, the one on the one side, and the other on the other side; and his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.
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 Joshua discomfited Amalek and his people with 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 Yhwh said unto Moses, Write this for a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the ears of Joshua: for I will utterly put out the remembrance of Amalek 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 of it Jehovah–nissi, Yhwh Our Banner:
Then Moses/I built a [stone] altar there and named it ‘Yahweh is [like] my flag’.
16 For he said, Because Yah hath sworn that Yhwh will have war with Amalek 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)!”
