Numbers 20

1 And the sons of Israel, all the congregation, come [into] the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people abide in Kadesh; and Miriam dies there and is buried there.

And the children of Israel, and all the multitude came into the desert of Sin, in the first month: and the people abode in Cades. And Mary died there, and was buried in the same place.

2 And there has been no water for the congregation, and they are assembled against Moses and against Aaron,

And the people wanting water, came together against Moses and Aaron:

3 and the people strive with Moses and speak, saying, “And oh that we had expired when our brothers expired before YHWH!

And making a sedition, they said: Would God we had perished among our brethren before the Lord.

4 And why have you brought in the assembly of YHWH to this wilderness to die there, we and our beasts?

Why have you brought out the church of the Lord into the wilderness, that both we and our cattle should die?

5 And why have you brought us up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? [It is] not a place of seed, and fig, and vine, and pomegranate; and there is no water to drink.”

Why have you made us come up out of Egypt, and have brought us into this wretched place which cannot be sowed, nor bringeth forth figs, nor vines, nor pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink?

6 And Moses and Aaron go in from the presence of the assembly to the opening of the Tent of Meeting and fall on their faces, and the glory of YHWH is seen by them.

And Moses and Aaron leaving the multitude, went into the tabernacle of the covenant, and fell flat upon the ground, and cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord God, hear the cry of this people, and open to them thy treasure, a fountain of living water, that being satisfied, they may cease to murmur. And the glory of the Lord appeared over them.

7 And YHWH speaks to Moses, saying,

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

8 “Take the rod and assemble the congregation—you and your brother Aaron—and you have spoken to the rock before their eyes, and it has given its water, and you have brought out water to them from the rock, and have watered the congregation and their beasts.”

Take the rod, and assemble the people together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak to the rock before them, and it shall yield waters. And when thou hast brought forth water out of the rock, all the multitude and their cattle shall drink.

9 And Moses takes the rod from before YHWH as He has commanded him,

Moses therefore took the rod, which was before the Lord, as he had commanded him,

10 and Moses and Aaron assemble the assembly to the front of the rock, and he says to them, “Now hear, O rebels, do we bring out water to you from this rock?”

And having gathered together the multitude before the rock, he said to them: Hear, ye rebellious and incredulous: Can we bring you forth water out of this rock?

11 And Moses lifts up his hand and strikes the rock with his rod twice; and much water comes out, and the congregation drinks, and their beasts [drink].

And when Moses had lifted up his hand, and struck the rock twice with the rod, there came forth water in great abundance, so that the people and their cattle drank,

12 And YHWH says to Moses and to Aaron, “Because you have not believed in Me to sanctify Me before the eyes of the sons of Israel, therefore you do not bring in this assembly to the land which I have given to them.”

And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Because you have not believed me, to sanctify me before the children of Israel, you shall not bring these people into the land, which I will give them.

13 These [are] the waters of Meribah, because the sons of Israel have “striven” with YHWH, and He is sanctified among them.

This is the Water of contradiction, where the children of Israel strove with words against the Lord, and he was sanctified in them.

14 And Moses sends messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, “Thus said your brother Israel: You have known all the travail which has found us,

In the mean time Moses sent messengers from Cades to the king of Edom, to say: Thus saith thy brother Israel: Thou knowest all the labour that hath come upon us:

15 that our fathers go down to Egypt, and we dwell in Egypt [for] many days, and the Egyptians do evil to us and to our fathers;

In what manner our fathers went down into Egypt, and there we dwelt a long time, and the Egyptians afflicted us and our fathers.

16 then we cry to YHWH, and He hears our voice, and sends a Messenger, and is bringing us out of Egypt; and behold, we [are] in Kadesh, a city [in] the extremity of your border.

And how we cried to the Lord, and he heard us, and sent an angel, who hath brought us out of Egypt. Lo, we are now in the city of Cades, which is in the uttermost of thy borders,

17 Please let us pass over through your land; we do not pass over through a field or through a vineyard, nor do we drink waters of a well; we go the way of the king, we do not turn aside [to] the right or left until we pass over your border.”

And we beseech thee that we may have leave to pass through thy country. We will not go through the fields, nor through the vineyards, we will not drink the waters of thy wells, but we will go by the common highway, neither turning aside to the right hand, nor to the left, till we are past thy borders.

18 And Edom says to him, “You do not pass over through me, lest I come out to meet you with the sword.”

And Edom answered them: Thou shalt not pass by me: if thou dost I will come out armed against thee.

19 And the sons of Israel say to him, “We go in the highway, and if we drink of your waters—I and my livestock—then I have given their price; only, let me pass over on my feet, nothing [more].”

And the children of Israel said: We will go by the beaten way: and if we and our cattle drink of thy waters, we will give thee what is just: there shall be no difficulty in the price, only let us pass speedily.

20 And he says, “You do not pass over”; and Edom comes out to meet him with many people and with a strong hand;

But he answered: Thou shalt not pass. And immediately he came forth to meet them with an infinite multitude, and a strong hand,

21 and Edom refuses to permit Israel to pass over through his border, and Israel turns aside from off him.

Neither would he condescend to their desire to grant them passage through his borders. Wherefore Israel turned another way from him.

22 And the sons of Israel, all the congregation, journey from Kadesh and come to Mount Hor,

And when they had removed the camp from Cades, they came to mount Her, which is in the borders of the land of Edom:

23 and YHWH speaks to Moses and to Aaron in Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom, saying,

Where the Lord spoke to Moses:

24 “Aaron is gathered to his people, for he does not go into the land which I have given to the sons of Israel, because that you provoked My mouth at the waters of Meribah.

Let Aaron, saith he, go to his people: for he shall not go into the land which I have given the children of Israel, because he was incredulous to my words, at the waters of contradiction.

25 Take Aaron and his son Eleazar, and cause them to go up Mount Hor,

Take Aaron and his son with him, and bring them up into mount Hor:

26 and strip Aaron of his garments, and you have clothed his son Eleazar [with] them, and Aaron is gathered, and dies there.”

And when thou hast stripped the father of his vesture, thou shalt vest therewith Eleazar his son: Aaron shall be gathered to his people, and die there.

27 And Moses does as YHWH has commanded, and they go up to Mount Hor before the eyes of all the congregation,

Moses did as the Lord had commanded: and they went up into mount Hor before all the multitude.

28 and Moses strips Aaron of his garments, and clothes his son Eleazar with them, and Aaron dies there on the top of the mountain; and Moses comes down—Eleazar also—from the mountain,

And when he had stripped Aaron of his vestments, he vested Eleazar his son with them. And Aaron being dead in the top of the mountain, he came down with Eleazar.

29 and all the congregation sees that Aaron has expired, and all the house of Israel laments Aaron [for] thirty days.

And all the multitude seeing that Aaron was dead, mourned for him thirty days throughout all their families.