Numbers 12:13

13 And Moses prayed to God: Please, God, heal her, please heal her.

Numbers 12:13 Meaning and Commentary

Numbers 12:13

And Moses cried unto the Lord
With a loud voice, and with great earnestness and importunity, being heartily affected with the miserable condition Miriam was in:

saying, heal her now, O God, I beseech thee;
in the original text it is, "O God now, heal her now"; for the same particle is used at the close as at the beginning of the petition; and the repetition of it shows his earnestness and importunity that she might be healed directly, immediately, without any delay; and Moses uses the word "El", which signifies the strong and mighty God, as expressive of his faith in the power of God, that he was able to heal her; and at the same time suggests that none but he could do it; and so Aben Ezra interprets it,

``thou that hast power in thine hand, now heal her;''

this prayer is a proof of his being of a meek, humble, and forgiving spirit.

Numbers 12:13 In-Context

11 He said to Moses, "Please, my master, please don't come down so hard on us for this foolish and thoughtless sin.
12 Please don't make her like a stillborn baby coming out of its mother's womb with half its body decomposed."
13 And Moses prayed to God: Please, God, heal her, please heal her.
14 God answered Moses, "If her father had spat in her face, wouldn't she be ostracized for seven days? Quarantine her outside the camp for seven days. Then she can be readmitted to the camp."
15 So Miriam was in quarantine outside the camp for seven days. The people didn't march on until she was readmitted.
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.