Aaron and Miriam Jealous of Moses

¹²While they were at Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had indeed married a Cushite woman);²and they said, ‘Has the ^Lord spoken only through Moses? Has he not spoken through us also?’ And the ^Lord heard it.³Now the man Moses was very humble, more so than anyone else on the face of the earth.⁴Suddenly the ^Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, ‘Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting.’ So the three of them came out.⁵Then the ^Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the entrance of the tent, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forward.⁶And he said, ‘Hear my words:When there are prophets among you,   I the ^Lord make myself known to them in visions;   I speak to them in dreams.⁷ Not so with my servant Moses;   he is entrusted with all my house.⁸ With him I speak face to face—clearly, not in riddles;   and he beholds the form of the ^Lord.Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?’⁹And the anger of the ^Lord was kindled against them, and he departed. ¹⁰ When the cloud went away from over the tent, Miriam had become leprous, as white as snow. And Aaron turned towards Miriam and saw that she was leprous.¹¹Then Aaron said to Moses, ‘Oh, my lord, do not punish us for a sin that we have so foolishly committed.¹²Do not let her be like one stillborn, whose flesh is half consumed when it comes out of its mother’s womb.’¹³And Moses cried to the ^Lord, ‘O God, please heal her.’¹⁴But the ^Lord said to Moses, ‘If her father had but spat in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut out of the camp for seven days, and after that she may be brought in again.’¹⁵So Miriam was shut out of the camp for seven days; and the people did not set out on the march until Miriam had been brought in again.

The Waters of Meribah

²⁰The Israelites, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died there, and was buried there.

Birth and Youth of Moses

²Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman.²The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him for three months.³When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river.⁴His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him. ⁵ The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it.⁶When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. ‘This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,’ she said.⁷Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, ‘Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?’⁸Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Yes.’ So the girl went and called the child’s mother.⁹Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, ‘Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.’ So the woman took the child and nursed it.¹⁰When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, ‘because’, she said, ‘I drew him out of the water.’ ¹⁹ When the horses of Pharaoh with his chariots and his chariot drivers went into the sea, the ^Lord brought back the waters of the sea upon them; but the Israelites walked through the sea on dry ground.

The Song of Miriam

²⁰ Then the prophet Miriam, Aaron’s sister, took a tambourine in her hand; and all the women went out after her with tambourines and with dancing.²¹And Miriam sang to them:‘Sing to the ^Lord, for he has triumphed gloriously;horse and rider he has thrown into the sea.’

Bitter Water Made Sweet

²² Then Moses ordered Israel to set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of Shur. They went for three days in the wilderness and found no water.