Numbers 12
1 [Moses’/My older sister] Miriam and [his/my older brother] Aaron were saying this: “Is Moses the only one to whom Yahweh has spoken messages to tell to us [RHQ]? Does Yahweh not speak messages to us two also?” [They told people that] they were saying that because Moses/I had married a woman who was a descendant of the Cush people-group, [but they were really saying that because they (were jealous/did not want Moses/me to be the only leader of the Israeli people)]. But Yahweh heard what they were saying.
And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses, on account of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for an Ethiopian woman had he married.
And they said, Hath then only with Moses the Lord spoken? hath he not also spoken with us? And the Lord heard it.
3 [The truth was that] Moses/I was very humble. He/I was more humble than anyone else on the earth [and Moses/I had not appointed himself/myself to be their leader].
(But the man Moses was very meek, more so than any man who was upon the face of the earth.)
4 So immediately Yahweh spoke to Moses/me and to Aaron and Miriam. He said, “All three of you must go and stand at the Sacred Tent.” So they/we did that.
And the Lord said suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Go out ye three unto the tabernacle of the congregation; and these three went out.
5 Then Yahweh descended to the entrance of the tent in a cloud [that resembled a huge white] pillar. He told Aaron and Miriam to step forward, so they did.
And the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the tabernacle; and he called Aaron and Miriam, and both of them went out.
6 Then he said to them, “Listen to me! When a prophet is among you, I [usually] reveal myself to him by allowing him to see visions, and I speak to him in dreams.
And he said, Hear now my words: If there be a prophet of your kind, I, the Lord, do make myself known unto him in a vision, in a dream do I speak with him.
7 But that is not the way I speak to my servant Moses. I trust that he will lead my people [well].
Not so is my servant Moses, in all my house is he faithful.
8 So I talk to him face-to-face. I speak to him (clearly/using words that he will understand easily), not using parables. He has even seen what I look like. So you should be afraid to criticize my servant Moses!”
Mouth to mouth do I speak with him, even evidently, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the Lord doth he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?
9 Yahweh was very angry with Miriam and Aaron, and he left.
And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he went away.
10 When the cloud rose up from the Sacred Tent, Aaron looked at Miriam, and he saw that her skin was [as white] as snow, because she now had leprosy.
And the cloud departed from off the tabernacle; and, behold, Miriam became leprous, [white] as snow; and Aaron turned toward Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous.
11 Aaron said to Moses/me, “My master, please do not punish us for this sin that we have foolishly committed.
Then said Aaron unto Moses, Alas, my Lord, do not, I beseech thee, account to us as sin that wherein we have done foolishly, and wherein we have sinned.
12 Do not allow Miriam to be like a baby that is already dead when it is born, whose flesh is already half decayed!”
Let her not be as a dead-born child, of which half the flesh is consumed, when it cometh out of its mother's womb.
13 So Moses/I cried out to Yahweh, saying, “God, I plead with you to heal her!”
And Moses cried unto the Lord, saying, O God! do thou heal her, I beseech thee.
14 But Yahweh replied, “If her father had [rebuked her for doing something wrong by] spitting in her face, she would have been ashamed for seven days. [She should be ashamed because of what she has done]. So send her outside the camp for seven days. Then [she will not have leprosy any more, and] she may return to the camp.”
And the Lord said unto Moses, If her father had spit in her face, would she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut up seven days outside of the camp, and after that let her be brought in again.
15 So they sent her outside the camp for seven days. (The people/We) did not move [to another location] until she returned.
And Miriam was shut up outside of the camp seven days; and the people did not set forward till Miriam was brought in again.
16 But after [she returned], they/we left Hazeroth and moved [north] in the Paran Desert and set up their/our tents there.
And afterward the people removed from Chazeroth, and encamped in the wilderness of Paran.
