The Waters of Meribah

20 The Israelites, the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died there and was buried there.^(A)

² Now there was no water for the congregation, so they gathered together against Moses and against Aaron.^{(B) 3} The people quarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had died when our kindred died before the Lord!^{(C) 4} Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness for us and our livestock to die here?^{(D) 5} Why have you brought us up out of Egypt to bring us to this wretched place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” ⁶ Then Moses and Aaron went away from the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting; they fell on their faces, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them.^{(E) 7} The Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ⁸ “Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and your brother Aaron, and command the rock before their eyes to yield its water. Thus you shall bring water out of the rock for them; thus you shall provide drink for the congregation and their livestock.”^(F)

⁹ So Moses took the staff from before the Lord, as he had commanded him. ¹⁰ Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Listen, you rebels; shall we bring water for you out of this rock?”^{(G) 11} Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff; water came out abundantly, and the congregation and their livestock drank.^{(H) 12} But the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust in me, to show my holiness before the eyes of the Israelites, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.”^{(I) 13} These are the waters of Meribah,^[a] where the Israelites quarreled with the Lord and through which he showed himself to be holy.^(J)

Jesus Cleanses the Temple

¹³ The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem.^{(A) 14} In the temple he found people selling cattle, sheep, and doves and the money changers seated at their tables. ¹⁵ Making a whip of cords, he drove all of them out of the temple, with the sheep and the cattle. He also poured out the coins of the money changers and overturned their tables. ¹⁶ He told those who were selling the doves, “Take these things out of here! Stop making my Father’s house a marketplace!”^{(B) 17} His disciples remembered that it was written, “Zeal for your house will consume me.”^{(C) 18} The Jews then said to him, “What sign can you show us for doing this?”^{(D) 19} Jesus answered them, “Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”^{(E) 20} The Jews then said, “This temple has been under construction for forty-six years, and will you raise it up in three days?” ²¹ But he was speaking of the temple of his body.^{(F) 22} After he was raised from the dead, his disciples remembered that he had said this, and they believed the scripture and the word that Jesus had spoken.