Numbers 20:14-29

New King James Version

Passage Through Edom Refused

¹⁴^(A)Now Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of ^(B)Edom. ^(C)“Thus says your brother Israel: ‘You know all the hardship that has befallen us, ¹⁵^(D)how our fathers went down to Egypt, ^(E)and we dwelt in Egypt a long time, ^(F)and the Egyptians ^[a]afflicted us and our fathers. ¹⁶^(G)When we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice and ^(H)sent the Angel and brought us up out of Egypt; now here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border. ¹⁷Please ^(I)let us pass through your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, nor will we drink water from wells; we will go along the King’s Highway; we will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.’ ”

¹⁸Then ^(J)Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through my land, lest I come out against you with the sword.”

¹⁹So the children of Israel said to him, “We will go by the Highway, and if I or my livestock drink any of your water, ^(K)then I will pay for it; let me only pass through on foot, nothing more.”

²⁰Then he said, ^(L)“You shall not pass through.” So Edom came out against them with many men and with a strong hand. ²¹Thus Edom ^(M)refused to give Israel passage through his territory; so Israel ^(N)turned away from him.

Death of Aaron

²²Now the children of Israel, the whole congregation, journeyed from ^(O)Kadesh ^(P)and came to Mount Hor. ²³And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying: ²⁴“Aaron shall ^[b]be ^(Q)gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against My word at the water of Meribah. ²⁵^(R)Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor; ²⁶and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; for Aaron shall be gathered to his people and die there.” ²⁷So Moses did just as the Lord commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation. ²⁸^(S)Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; and ^(T)Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹Now when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron ^(U)thirty days.