Numbers 20

1 And the children of Israel, and all the multitude came into the desert of Sin, in the first month: and the people abode in Cades. And Mary died there, and was buried in the same place.

So the people of Israel, the whole community, went into the wilderness of Zin in the first month; they stayed at Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.

2 And the people wanting water, came together against Moses and Aaron:

There was no water for the community, so they assembled together against Moses and Aaron.

3 And making a sedition, they said: Would God we had perished among our brethren before the Lord.

The people complained against Moses. They said, “It would have been better if we had died when our fellow Israelites died in front of Yahweh!

4 Why have you brought out the church of the Lord into the wilderness, that both we and our cattle should die?

Why have you brought Yahweh's community into this wilderness to die here, we and our animals?

5 Why have you made us come up out of Egypt, and have brought us into this wretched place which cannot be sowed, nor bringeth forth figs, nor vines, nor pomegranates, neither is there any water to drink?

Why did you make us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this horrible place? Here there is no seed, figs, vines, or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.”

6 And Moses and Aaron leaving the multitude, went into the tabernacle of the covenant, and fell flat upon the ground, and cried to the Lord, and said: O Lord God, hear the cry of this people, and open to them thy treasure, a fountain of living water, that being satisfied, they may cease to murmur. And the glory of the Lord appeared over them.

So Moses and Aaron went away from in front of the assembly. They went to the entrance of the tent of meeting and lay facedown. There Yahweh's brilliant glory appeared to them.

7 And the Lord spoke to Moses, saying:

Yahweh spoke to Moses and said,

8 Take the rod, and assemble the people together, thou and Aaron thy brother, and speak to the rock before them, and it shall yield waters. And when thou hast brought forth water out of the rock, all the multitude and their cattle shall drink.

“Take the staff and assemble the community, you, and Aaron your brother. Speak to the rock before their eyes, and command it to flow with water. You will produce water for them out of that rock, and you must give it to the community and their cattle to drink.”

9 Moses therefore took the rod, which was before the Lord, as he had commanded him,

Moses took the staff from before Yahweh, as Yahweh had commanded him to do.

10 And having gathered together the multitude before the rock, he said to them: Hear, ye rebellious and incredulous: Can we bring you forth water out of this rock?

Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock. Moses said to them, “Listen now, you rebels. Must we bring water out of this rock for you?”

11 And when Moses had lifted up his hand, and struck the rock twice with the rod, there came forth water in great abundance, so that the people and their cattle drank,

Then Moses raised his hand and struck the rock twice with his staff, and much water came out. The community drank, and their cattle drank.

12 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron: Because you have not believed me, to sanctify me before the children of Israel, you shall not bring these people into the land, which I will give them.

Then Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not trust me or honor me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, you will not bring this assembly into the land I have given them.”

13 This is the Water of contradiction, where the children of Israel strove with words against the Lord, and he was sanctified in them.

This place was called the waters of Meribah because the people of Israel had quarreled with Yahweh there, and he showed himself to them as holy.

14 In the mean time Moses sent messengers from Cades to the king of Edom, to say: Thus saith thy brother Israel: Thou knowest all the labour that hath come upon us:

Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom: Your brother Israel says this: “You know all the difficulties that have happened to us.

15 In what manner our fathers went down into Egypt, and there we dwelt a long time, and the Egyptians afflicted us and our fathers.

You know that our ancestors went down to Egypt and lived in Egypt a long time. The Egyptians treated us harshly and also our ancestors.

16 And how we cried to the Lord, and he heard us, and sent an angel, who hath brought us out of Egypt. Lo, we are now in the city of Cades, which is in the uttermost of thy borders,

When we called out to Yahweh, he heard our voice and sent an angel and brought us out of Egypt. Look, we are in Kadesh, a city on the border of your land.

17 And we beseech thee that we may have leave to pass through thy country. We will not go through the fields, nor through the vineyards, we will not drink the waters of thy wells, but we will go by the common highway, neither turning aside to the right hand, nor to the left, till we are past thy borders.

I am asking you to let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or vineyard, nor will we drink the water in your 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 your border.”

18 And Edom answered them: Thou shalt not pass by me: if thou dost I will come out armed against thee.

But the king of Edom replied to him, “You may not pass through here. If you do, I will come with the sword to attack you.”

19 And the children of Israel said: We will go by the beaten way: and if we and our cattle drink of thy waters, we will give thee what is just: there shall be no difficulty in the price, only let us pass speedily.

Then the people of Israel said to him, “We will go along the highway. If we or our livestock drink your water, we will pay for it. Just let us walk through on foot, without doing anything else.”

20 But he answered: Thou shalt not pass. And immediately he came forth to meet them with an infinite multitude, and a strong hand,

But the king of Edom replied, “You may not pass through.” So the king of Edom came against Israel with a strong hand with many soldiers.

21 Neither would he condescend to their desire to grant them passage through his borders. Wherefore Israel turned another way from him.

The king of Edom refused to allow Israel to cross over their border. Because of this, Israel turned away from the land of Edom.

22 And when they had removed the camp from Cades, they came to mount Her, which is in the borders of the land of Edom:

So the people journeyed from Kadesh. The people of Israel, the whole community, came to Mount Hor.

23 Where the Lord spoke to Moses:

Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor, on Edom's border. He said,

24 Let Aaron, saith he, go to his people: for he shall not go into the land which I have given the children of Israel, because he was incredulous to my words, at the waters of contradiction.

“Aaron must be gathered to his people, for he will not enter the land that I have given to the people of Israel. This is because you both rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah.

25 Take Aaron and his son with him, and bring them up into mount Hor:

Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor.

26 And when thou hast stripped the father of his vesture, thou shalt vest therewith Eleazar his son: Aaron shall be gathered to his people, and die there.

Take Aaron's priestly garments off him and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron must die and be gathered to his people there.”

27 Moses did as the Lord had commanded: and they went up into mount Hor before all the multitude.

Moses did as Yahweh commanded. They went up Mount Hor in the sight of all the community.

28 And when he had stripped Aaron of his vestments, he vested Eleazar his son with them. And Aaron being dead in the top of the mountain, he came down with Eleazar.

Moses took Aaron's priestly garments off him and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down.

29 And all the multitude seeing that Aaron was dead, mourned for him thirty days throughout all their families.

When all the community saw that Aaron was dead, the entire nation wept for Aaron for thirty days.