Numbers 20 — Read & Listen Online

Miriam Dies at Kadesh

Chapter 20.

In the first month the whole community of Israel came into the Wilderness of Zin, and the people stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died, and there she was buried.

Our Father Provides Water

Now there was no water for the community, so they gathered together against Moses and Aaron. The people quarreled with Moses and said, "If only we had died when our brothers died in our Father's presence!" Why have you brought our Father's assembly into this wilderness, for us and our livestock to die here? And why did you make us come up out of Egypt, to bring us to this evil place? There is no grain here, no figs, no vines, no pomegranates, and no water to drink.

Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and fell on their faces, and the glory of our Father appeared to them. Our Father said to Moses,

"Take the staff, and gather the community, you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will give its water. So you will bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the community and their livestock."

So Moses took the staff from before our Father, as he had commanded him. Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly before the rock, and he said to them, "Listen now, you rebels: must we bring you water out of this rock?" Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, and water gushed out abundantly, and the community and their livestock drank. ¹

But our Father said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you did not trust me enough to treat me as holy in the eyes of the children of Israel, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them."

These were the waters of Meribah, where the children of Israel quarreled with our Father, and he showed himself holy among them. ²

Edom Refuses Safe Passage

Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: "This is what your brother Israel says: You know all the hardship that has come upon us— how our fathers went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers. But when we cried out to our Father, he heard our voice and sent a messenger and brought us out of Egypt. Now here we are at Kadesh, a town on the edge of your territory.

Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, nor drink water from any well. We will travel along the King's Highway, not turning aside to the right or to the left, until we have passed through your territory.

But Edom said to him, "You will not pass through me, or I will come out against you with the sword."

The children of Israel said to him, "We will go up by the highway. If we drink your water—we and our livestock—we will pay for it. Only let us pass through on foot, nothing more."

But he said, "You will not pass through." And Edom came out against him with a large and powerful army. So Edom refused to let Israel pass through his territory, and Israel turned away from him.

Aaron Is Gathered to His People

The whole community of the children of Israel set out from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor. At Mount Hor, on the border of the land of Edom, our Father said to Moses and Aaron,

"Aaron will be gathered to his people. He will not enter the land I have given to the children of Israel, because you both rebelled against my command at the waters of Meribah." ³ "Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up Mount Hor." "Strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron will be gathered to his people and will die there."

Moses did as our Father commanded, and they went up Mount Hor as the whole community watched. Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son, and Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. When the whole community saw that Aaron had died, all the house of Israel mourned for him thirty days.

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