Numbers 12
1 [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.
And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married: for he had married a Cushite woman.
And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoke only by Moses? hath he not spoke also by us? And the LORD heard [it].
3 [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].
(Now the man Moses [was] very meek, above all the men who [were] upon the face of the earth.)
4 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.
And the LORD spoke suddenly to Moses, and to Aaron, and to Miriam, Come out ye three to the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out.
5 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.
And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood [in] the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth.
6 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.
And he said, Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, [I] the LORD will make myself known to him in a vision, [and] will speak to him in a dream.
7 But that is not the way I speak to my servant Moses. I trust that he will lead my people [well].
My servant Moses [is] not so, who [is] faithful in all my house.
8 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!”
With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even apparently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: why then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
9 Yahweh was very angry with Miriam and Aaron, and he left.
And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed.
10 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.
And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and behold, Miriam [became] leprous, [white] as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and behold, [she was] leprous.
11 Aaron said to Moses/me, “My master, please do not punish us for this sin that we have foolishly committed.
And Aaron said to Moses, Alas, my lord, I beseech thee, lay not the sin upon us, in which we have done foolishly, and in which we have sinned.
12 Do not allow Miriam to be like a baby that is already dead when it is born, whose flesh is already half decayed!”
Let her not be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed at the time of his birth.
13 So Moses/I cried out to Yahweh, saying, “God, I plead with you to heal her!”
And Moses cried to the LORD, saying, Heal her now, O God, I beseech thee.
14 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.”
And the LORD said to Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut out from the camp seven days, and after that let her be received [again].
15 So they sent her outside the camp for seven days. (The people/We) did not move [to another location] until she returned.
And Miriam was shut out from the camp seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in [again].
16 But after [she returned], they/we left Hazeroth and moved [north] in the Paran Desert and set up their/our tents there.
And afterward the people removed from Hazeroth, and encamped in the wilderness of Paran.
