12
The Murmuring of Miriam and Aaron
1 Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a AEx 2:21Cushite woman); 2 ANum 16:3and they said, “Has the Loʀᴅ indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” And the Loʀᴅ heard it. 3 (Now the man Moses was AMatt 11:29very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.) 4 Suddenly the Loʀᴅ said to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam, “You three come out to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them came out. 5 AEx 19:9; 34:5Then the Loʀᴅ came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and He called 1Or “Aaron and Miriam!”Aaron and Miriam. When they had both come forward, 6 He said,
“Hear now My words:
If there is a prophet among you,
I, the Loʀᴅ, shall make Myself known to him in a AGen 46:2; 1 Sam 3:15vision.
I shall speak with him in a BGen 31:11; 1 Kin 3:5, 15dream.
7 “Not so, with AJosh 1:1My servant Moses,
BHeb 3:2, 5He is faithful in all My household;
8 ADeut 34:10; Hos 12:13With him I speak mouth to mouth,
Even openly, and not in dark sayings,
And he beholds BEx 20:4; 24:10, 11; Deut 5:8; Ps 17:15the form of the Loʀᴅ.
Why then were you not afraid
To speak against My servant, against Moses?”
9 So the anger of the Loʀᴅ burned against them and AGen 17:22; 18:33He departed. 10 But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, ADeut 24:9Miriam was leprous, as BEx 4:6; 2 Kin 5:27white as snow. As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous. 11 Then Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, I beg you, A2 Sam 19:19; 24:10do not account this sin to us, in which we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned. 12 “Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother’s womb!” 13 Moses cried out to the Loʀᴅ, saying, “O God, APs 30:2; 41:4; Is 30:26; Jer 17:14heal her, I pray!” 14 But the Loʀᴅ said to Moses, “If her father had but ADeut 25:9; Job 17:6; 30:10; Is 50:6spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days BNum 5:1-4outside the camp, and afterward she may be received again.” 15 So ADeut 24:9Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was received again.
16 Afterward, however, the people moved out from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.