(Numbers 20:1–13)

¹ Then the whole congregation of Israel left the Desert of Sin,¹ moving from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

1. The geographical name Sin is related to Sinai and should not be mistaken for the English word sin.

² So the people contended with Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why do you contend with me?” Moses replied. “Why do you test the LORD?”

³ But the people thirsted for water there, and they grumbled against Moses: “Why have you brought us out of Egypt—to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”

⁴ Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What should I do with these people? A little more and they will stone me!”

⁵ And the LORD said to Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take along in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.

⁶ Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb.¹ And when you strike the rock, water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.

1. Horeb is another name for Sinai.

⁷ He named the place Massah¹ and Meribah² because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”

1. Massah means testing.
2. Meribah means quarreling.

The Defeat of the Amalekites

⁸ After this, the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.

⁹ So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with the staff of God in my hand.”

¹⁰ Joshua did as Moses had instructed him and fought against the Amalekites, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

¹¹ As long as Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed; but when he lowered them, Amalek prevailed.

¹² When Moses’ hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Then Aaron and Hur held his hands up, one on each side, so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down.

¹³ So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his army with the sword.

¹⁴ Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”

¹⁵ And Moses built an altar and named it The LORD Is My Banner.¹

1. Hebrew YHWH Nissi

¹⁶ “Indeed,” he said, “a hand was lifted up toward the throne of the LORD. The LORD will war against Amalek from generation to generation.”