Add parallel Print Page Options

Chapter 12

Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses. Miriam[a] and Aaron criticized Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. They said, “Has the Lord only spoken through Moses? Has he not also spoken through us?” And the Lord heard this.

Now Moses was very humble, more so than anyone else upon the face of the earth. Suddenly the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron and Miriam, saying, “Come out, you three, from the tent of meeting.” And the three of them came out. The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance to the tabernacle and summoned Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward. [b]He said, “Hear now my words:

“If anyone among you is a prophet,
    I, the Lord, make myself known to him in a vision,
    I speak to him in a dream.
It is not that way with Moses,
    who is entrusted with all my household.
I speak to him face to face,
    clearly, and not in riddles.
He beholds the very form of the Lord.

Why then were you not afraid to criticize my servant Moses?” Then the anger of the Lord blazed against them, and he departed.

10 Miriam’s Punishment. When the cloud lifted up off of the tabernacle, there stood Miriam, leprous, white as snow. Aaron turned toward Miriam and saw that she was a leper. 11 Aaron said to Moses, “Please, my lord, do not hold the sin against us that we have so foolishly committed! 12 Let her not be like a stillborn child who comes forth from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away.” 13 Moses cried out to the Lord, “O God, I beseech you, heal her!” 14 The Lord replied to Moses, “If her father had only spit in her face, would she not have been shamed for seven days? Confine her outside of the camp for seven days. After that, let her be received back in.”

15 So Miriam was confined outside of the camp for seven days. The people did not move on until Miriam was brought back in. 16 After this, the people left Hazeroth and they camped in the Desert of Paran.

Footnotes

  1. Numbers 12:1 Miriam is the sister of Moses; the Ethiopian is Zipporah, a Midianite (Ex 2:21). In Israelite thinking, marriage with a foreign woman was cause for a family to lose the gift of prophecy.
  2. Numbers 12:6 The poetic form emphasizes the solemn nature of the words that single out Moses as the only prophet worthy of God’s trust.

Aaron and Miriam Murmur Against Moses

12 And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he took (because he took a Cushite wife); and they said, “Has Yahweh spoken only through Moses? Has not Yahweh also spoken through us?” And Yahweh heard it. Now the man, Moses, was more humble than any other person on the face of the earth, and Yahweh said suddenly to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Go out, you three, to the tent of assembly.” So the three of them when out. And Yahweh went down in a column of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and he called Aaron and Miriam, and the two of them went, and he said,

“Please hear my words:
    If there is a prophet among you, I, Yahweh,
will make myself known to him in a vision.
    I will speak to him in a dream.[a]
Not so with my servant Moses;
    in all my house he is faithful.
I will speak to him mouth to mouth,
    in clearness, not in riddles;
and he will look at the form of Yahweh.

Why were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?”

And Yahweh became very angry[b] with them, and he went away. 10 And the cloud departed from on the tent, and behold, Miriam was infected with a skin disease[c] white like snow; when Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was afflicted with a skin disease. 11 So Aaron said to Moses, “Please, my lord, please do not put on us this sin in which we were foolish and in which we have sinned. 12 Please do not let her be like the dead, whose flesh is half consumed when coming out from the womb of its mother.” 13 And Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, “God, please heal her!”[d] 14 But Yahweh said to Moses, “If her father had surely spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be confined for seven days to an outside place of the camp, and afterward she may be gathered.” 15 So Miriam was confined to the outside place of the camp seven days, and the people did not set out until Miriam was gathered. 16 And afterward the people set out from Hazeroth, and they encamped in the desert of Paran.

Footnotes

  1. Numbers 12:6 Hebrew “the dream”
  2. Numbers 12:9 Literally “And the nose of Yahweh became hot”
  3. Numbers 12:10 The precise meaning is uncertain; many modern translations suggest “leprosy”
  4. Numbers 12:13 Literally “Please heal please her”