The Fourth Book of Moses: Numbers

⭑ Douay-Rheims :: World English Bible Catholic ⭑

- Chapter 20 -

(Exodus 17:1–7)

And the children of Israel, and all the multitude came into the desert of Sin, in the first month: and the people abode in Cades. And Mary died there, and was buried in the same place.

And the people wanting water, came together against Moses and Aaron:

And making a sedition, they said: Would God we had perished among our brethren before the Lord.

Why have you brought out the church of the Lord into the wilderness, that both we and our cattle should die?

Why have you made us come up out of Egypt, and have brought us into this wretched place which cannot be sowed, nor bringeth forth figs, nor vines, nor pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink?

And Moses and Aaron leaving the multitude, went into the tabernacle of the covenant, and fell flat upon the ground, and cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord God, hear the cry of this people, and open to them thy treasure, a fountain of living water, that being satisfied, they may cease to murmur. And the glory of the Lord appeared over them.

And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

Take the rod, and assemble the people together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak to the rock before them, and it shall yield waters. And when thou hast brought forth water out of the rock, all the multitude and their cattle shall drink.

Moses therefore took the rod, which was before the Lord, as he had commanded him,

And having gathered together the multitude before the rock, he said to them: Hear, ye rebellious and incredulous: Can we bring you forth water out of this rock?

And when Moses had lifted up his hand, and struck the rock twice with the rod, there came forth water in great abundance, so that the people and their cattle drank,

And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Because you have not believed me, to sanctify me before the children of Israel, you shall not bring these people into the land, which I will give them.

This is the Water of contradiction, where the children of Israel strove with words against the Lord, and he was sanctified in them.

Edom Refuses Passage

In the mean time Moses sent messengers from Cades to the king of Edom, to say: Thus saith thy brother Israel: Thou knowest all the labour that hath come upon us:

In what manner our fathers went down into Egypt, and there we dwelt a long time, and the Egyptians afflicted us and our fathers.

And how we cried to the Lord, and he heard us, and sent an angel, who hath brought us out of Egypt. Lo, we are now in the city of Cades, which is in the uttermost of thy borders,

And we beseech thee that we may have leave to pass through thy country. We will not go through the fields, nor through the vineyards, we will not drink the waters of thy wells, but we will go by the common highway, neither turning aside to the right hand, nor to the left, till we are past thy borders.

And Edom answered them: Thou shalt not pass by me: if thou dost I will come out armed against thee.

And the children of Israel said: We will go by the beaten way: and if we and our cattle drink of thy waters, we will give thee what is just: there shall be no difficulty in the price, only let us pass speedily.

But he answered: Thou shalt not pass. And immediately he came forth to meet them with an infinite multitude, and a strong hand,

Neither would he condescend to their desire to grant them passage through his borders. Wherefore Israel turned another way from him.

The Death of Aaron

And when they had removed the camp from Cades, they came to mount Her, which is in the borders of the land of Edom:

Where the Lord spoke to Moses:

Let Aaron, saith he, go to his people: for he shall not go into the land which I have given the children of Israel, because he was incredulous to my words, at the waters of contradiction.

Take Aaron and his son with him, and bring them up into mount Hor:

And when thou hast stripped the father of his vesture, thou shalt vest therewith Eleazar his son: Aaron shall be gathered to his people, and die there.

Moses did as the Lord had commanded: and they went up into mount Hor before all the multitude.

And when he had stripped Aaron of his vestments, he vested Eleazar his son with them.

And Aaron being dead in the top of the mountain, he came down with Eleazar.

And all the multitude seeing that Aaron was dead, mourned for him thirty days throughout all their families.

(Exodus 17:1–7)

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

There was no water for the congregation; and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.

The people quarreled with Moses, and spoke, saying, “We wish that we had died when our brothers died before the LORD!

Why have you brought the LORD’s assembly into this wilderness, that we should die there, we and our animals?

Why 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.”

Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and fell on their faces. The LORD’s glory appeared to them.

The LORD spoke to Moses, saying,

“Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it pour out its water. You shall bring water to them out of the rock; so you shall give the congregation and their livestock drink.”

Moses took the rod from before the LORD, as he commanded him.

Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Shall we bring water out of this rock for you?”

Moses lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his rod twice, and water came out abundantly. The congregation and their livestock drank.

The LORD 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.”

These are the waters of Meribah;(a) because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them.

Edom Refuses Passage

Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying: “Your brother Israel says: You know all the travail that has happened to us;

how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time. The Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers.

When we cried to the LORD, he heard our voice, sent an angel, and brought us out of Egypt. Behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the edge of your border.

“Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or through vineyard, neither will we drink from the water of the wells. We will go along the king’s highway. We will not turn away to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed your border.”

Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through me, lest I come out with the sword against you.”

The children of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway; and if we drink your water, I and my livestock, then I will give its price. Only let me, without doing anything else, pass through on my feet.”

He said, “You shall not pass through.” Edom came out against him with many people, and with a strong hand.

Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border, so Israel turned away from him.

The Death of Aaron

They traveled from Kadesh, and the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor.

The LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, saying,

“Aaron 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.

Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor;

and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron shall be gathered, and shall die there.”

Moses did as the LORD commanded. They went up onto Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.

Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron died there on the top of the mountain, and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.

When all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they wept for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.

Footnotes

(a)20:13 “Meribah” means “quarreling”.