< Numbers 20 >
1 The children of Israel [God prevails], even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month. The people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died there, and was buried there.
2 There was no water for the congregation; and they assembled themselves together against Moses [Drawn out] and against Aaron [Light-bringer].
3 The people quarreled with Moses [Drawn out], and spoke, saying, “We wish that we had died when our brothers died before Adonai!
4 Why have you brought Adonai’s assembly into this wilderness, that we should die there, we and our animals?
5 Why have you made us to come up out of Egypt [Abode of slavery], to bring us in to this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.”
6 Moses [Drawn out] and Aaron [Light-bringer] went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and fell on their faces. The kavod Yahweh ·weighty glory of He sustains breathing· appeared to them.
7 Adonai spoke to Moses [Drawn out], saying,
8 “Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you, and Aaron [Light-bringer] your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it pour out its water. You shall bring water to them out of the rock; so you shall give the congregation and their livestock drink.”
9 Moses [Drawn out] took the rod from before Adonai, as he enjoined him.
10 Moses [Drawn out] and Aaron [Light-bringer] gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Sh'ma ·Hear obey· now, you rebels! Shall we bring water out of this rock for you?”
11 Moses [Drawn out] lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his rod twice, and water came out abundantly. The congregation and their livestock drank.
12 Adonai said to Moses [Drawn out] and Aaron [Light-bringer], “Because you didn’t believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel [God prevails], therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”
13 These are the waters of Meribah [Quarreling]; because the children of Israel [God prevails] strove with Yahweh M’Kaddesh [Yahweh our Santifier / He sustains breathing who makes you holy] who was set apart by them.
14 Moses [Drawn out] sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom [Red], saying: “Thus says your brother Israel [God prevails]: You know all the travail that has happened to us;
15 how our fathers went down into Egypt [Abode of slavery], and we lived in Egypt [Abode of slavery] a long time. The Egyptians [people from Abode of slavery] mistreated us and our fathers.
16 When we cried to Adonai, he sh'ma ·heard obeyed· our voice, sent an angel, and brought us out of Egypt [Abode of slavery]. Behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the edge of your border.
17 “Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or through vineyard, neither will we drink from the water of the wells. We will go along the king’s highway. We will not turn aside to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed your border.”
18 Edom [Red] said to him, “You shall not pass through me, lest I come out with the sword against you.”
19 The children of Israel [God prevails] said to him, “We will go up by the highway; and if we drink your water, I and my livestock, then I will give its price. Only let me, without doing anything else, pass through on my feet.”
20 He said, “You shall not pass through.” Edom [Red] came out against him with many people, and with a strong hand.
21 Thus Edom [Red] refused to give Israel [God prevails] passage through his border, so Israel [God prevails] turned away from him.
22 They traveled from Kadesh: and the children of Israel [God prevails], even the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor.
23 Adonai spoke to Moses [Drawn out] and Aaron [Light-bringer] in Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom [Red], saying,
24 “Aaron [Light-bringer] shall be gathered to his people; for he shall not enter into the land which I have given to the children of Israel [God prevails], because you rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah [Quarreling].
25 Take Aaron [Light-bringer] and Eleazar [Help of God] his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor;
26 and strip Aaron [Light-bringer] of his garments, and put them on Eleazar [Help of God] his son. Aaron [Light-bringer] shall be taken, and shall die there.”
27 Moses [Drawn out] did as Adonai enjoined. They went up into Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.
28 Moses [Drawn out] stripped Aaron [Light-bringer] of his garments, and put them on Eleazar [Help of God] his son. Aaron [Light-bringer] died there on the top of the mountain, and Moses [Drawn out] and Eleazar [Help of God] came down from the mountain.
29 When all the congregation saw that Aaron [Light-bringer] was dead, they wept for Aaron [Light-bringer] thirty days, even all the house of Israel [God prevails].
