Aaron and Miriam Murmur Against Moses

¹ And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he took (because he took a Cushite wife);

² and they said, “Has Yahweh spoken only through Moses? Has not Yahweh also spoken through us?” And Yahweh heard it.

³ Now the man, Moses, was more humble than any other person on the face of the earth,

⁴ and Yahweh said suddenly to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Go out, you three, to the tent of assembly.” So the three of them when out.

⁵ And Yahweh went down in a column of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and he called Aaron and Miriam, and the two of them went,

⁶ and he said, “Please hear my words: If there is a prophet among you, I, Yahweh, will make myself known to him in a vision. I will speak to him in a dream.¹

1. Hebrew “the dream”

⁷ Not so with my servant Moses; in all my house he is faithful.

⁸ I will speak to him mouth to mouth, in clearness, not in riddles; and he will look at the form of Yahweh. Why were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?”

⁹ ⌞And Yahweh became very angry⌟¹ with them, and he went away.

1. Literally “And the nose of Yahweh became hot”

¹⁰ And the cloud departed from on the tent, and behold, Miriam was infected with ⌞a skin disease⌟¹ white like snow; when Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was afflicted with a skin disease.

1. The precise meaning is uncertain; many modern translations suggest “leprosy”

¹¹ So Aaron said to Moses, “Please, my lord, please do not put on us this sin in which we were foolish and in which we have sinned.

¹² Please do not let her be like the dead, whose flesh is half consumed when coming out from the womb of its mother.”

¹³ And Moses cried to Yahweh, saying, “God, ⌞please heal her⌟!”¹

1. Literally “Please heal please her”

¹⁴ But Yahweh said to Moses, “If her father had surely spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be confined for seven days to an outside place of the camp, and afterward she may be gathered.”

¹⁵ So Miriam was confined to the outside place of the camp seven days, and the people did not set out until Miriam was gathered.

¹⁶ And afterward the people set out from Hazeroth, and they encamped in the desert of Paran.