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17 All the congregation of the children of Israel traveled from the wilderness of Sin, starting according to Yahweh’s commandment, and encamped in Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink. Therefore the people quarreled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.”

Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?”

The people were thirsty for water there; so the people murmured against Moses, and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?”

Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, “What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”

Yahweh said to Moses, “Walk on before the people, and take the elders of Israel with you, and take the rod in your hand with which you struck the Nile, and go. Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. He called the name of the place Massah,[a] and Meribah,[b] because the children of Israel quarreled, and because they tested Yahweh, saying, “Is Yahweh among us, or not?”

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Footnotes

  1. 17:7 Massah means testing.
  2. 17:7 Meribah means quarreling.

Water from a Rock

17 And all the community of the Israelites[a] set out from the desert of Sin for their journeys according to the command of Yahweh, and they camped in Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. And the people quarreled with Moses, and they said, “Give us water so that we can drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?” And the people thirsted for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why ever[b] did you bring us up from Egypt to kill me[c] and my sons and my cattle with thirst?”

And Moses cried out to Yahweh, saying, “What will I do with this people? A little longer and they will stone me.” And Yahweh said to Moses, “Go on before the people and take with you some from the elders of Israel, and the staff with which you struck the Nile take in your hand, and go. Look, I will be standing before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you will strike the rock, and water will come out from it, and the people will drink.”

And Moses did so before the eyes of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the Israelites[d] and because of their testing Yahweh by saying, “Is Yahweh in our midst or not?”

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Footnotes

  1. Exodus 17:1 Literally “sons/children of Israel”
  2. Exodus 17:3 Or “at all”; literally “this”
  3. Exodus 17:3 The unexpected switch to first-person singular pronouns reflects the fact that the question summarizes a host of angry accusations and self-centered concern
  4. Exodus 17:7 Literally “sons/children of Israel”