Bitter Water Made Sweet

²² Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of ^(A)Shur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. ²³ When they came to ^(B)Marah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.^{[a] 24} And the people ^(C)grumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” ²⁵ And he ^(D)cried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log,^[b] and he ^(E)threw it into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the Lord^[c] made for them a statute and a rule, and there he ^(F)tested them,

Water from the Rock

17 ^(A)All the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. ^2 (B)Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you ^(C)test the Lord?” ³ But the people thirsted there for water, and ^(D)the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” ⁴ So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready ^(E)to stone me.” ⁵ And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with ^(F)which you struck the Nile, and go. ^6 (G)Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ And he called the name of the place ^(H)Massah^[a] and ^(I)Meribah,^[b] because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”