Chapter 20

¹The children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there. ²There was no water for the congregation: and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. ³The people strove with Moses, and spoke, saying, Would that we had died when our brothers died before Yahweh! ⁴Why have you brought the assembly of Yahweh into this wilderness, that we should die there, we and our animals? ⁵Why have you made us to come up out of Egypt, 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. ⁶Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the tent of meeting, and fell on their faces: and the glory of Yahweh appeared to them. ⁷Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, ⁸Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak you to the rock before their eyes, that it give forth its water; and you shall bring forth to them water out of the rock; so you shall give the congregation and their livestock drink. ⁹Moses took the rod from before Yahweh, as he commanded him. ¹⁰Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, Hear now, you rebels; shall we bring you forth water out of this rock? ¹¹Moses lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his rod twice: and water came forth abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. ¹²Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, Because you didn’t believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them. ¹³These are the waters of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with Yahweh, and he was sanctified in them. ¹⁴Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, Thus says your brother Israel, You know all the travail that has happened to us: ¹⁵how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians dealt ill with us, and our fathers: ¹⁶and when we cried to Yahweh, he heard our voice, and sent an angel, and brought us forth out of Egypt: and behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the uttermost of your border. ¹⁷Please let us pass through your land: we will not pass through field or through vineyard, neither will we drink of 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. ¹⁸Edom said to him, You shall not pass through me, lest I come out with the sword against you. ¹⁹The children of Israel said to him, We will go up by the highway; and if we drink of your water, I and my livestock, then will I give the price of it: let me only, without doing anything else, pass through on my feet. ²⁰He said, You shall not pass through. Edom came out against him with much people, and with a strong hand. ²¹Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border: why Israel turned away from him. ²²They traveled from Kadesh: and the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor. ²³Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, saying, ²⁴Aaron shall be gathered to his people; for he shall not enter into the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah. ²⁵Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor; ²⁶and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son: and Aaron shall be gathered to his people, and shall die there. ²⁷Moses did as Yahweh commanded: and they went up into Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. ²⁸Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there on the top of the mountain: and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹When all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they wept for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.