Numbers 12:13

13 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, "God, please heal her!"^[a]

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 and said to Moses, "My lord, please don't hold against us this sin we have so foolishly committed.

12 Please don't let her be like a dead [baby] whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother's womb."

13 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, "God, please heal her!"

14 The Lord answered Moses, "If her father had merely spit in her face, wouldn't she remain in disgrace for seven days? Let her be confined outside the camp for seven days; after that she may be brought back in."

15 So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was brought back in.

Footnotes

• [a]. Gn 20:17; Ex 15:26; Lv 14:3; Dt 32:39