ltitude, {248} came into
the wilderness of Zin in the first month: and the people abode in
Kadesh; and Miriam died there, and was buried there. And there was no
water for the multitude: and they assembled themselves together
against Moses and against Aaron.

And the people strove with Moses, and spoke, saying, "Would God that
we had died when our brethren died before the Lord! And why have ye
brought the people of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should
die there, we and our cattle? And wherefore have ye made us to come up
out of Egypt, to bring us unto 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."

And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the people to the door
of the tent of meeting, and fell upon their faces: and the glory of
the Lord appeared to them. And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "Take
the rod, and assemble the multitude, thou, and Aaron thy brother, and
speak ye to the rock before their eyes, that it give forth its water;
and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock: so thou
shalt give the multitude and their cattle drink."

And Moses took the rod from before the Lord, as he commanded him. And
Moses and Aaron gathered the people together before the rock, and he
said unto them, "Hear now, ye rebels; shall we bring you forth water
out of this rock?"

And Moses lifted up his hand, and smote the rock with his rod twice:
and water came forth abundantly, and the {249} multitude drank, and
their cattle. And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, "Because ye
believed not in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of
Israel, therefore ye shall not bring this people into the land which I
have given them." These are the waters of Meribah (that is, strife);
because the children of Israel strove with the Lord, and he was
sanctified in them.

And Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, "Thus saith
thy brother Israel, 'Thou knowest all the trouble that hath befallen
us: how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we dwelt in Egypt a long
time: and the Egyptians oppressed us, and our fathers: and when we
cried to the Lord, 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 thy border: let us pass, I pray thee, through thy land:
we will not pass through field or through vineyard, neither will we
drink of the water of the we