7
And the LORD spoke unto Moses, saying,
8
Take the rod and gather the congregation together, thou and Aaron, thy brother, and speak ye unto the rock before their eyes, and it shall give forth its water, and thou shalt bring forth to them water out of the rock; so thou shalt give the congregation and their beasts drink.
9
Then Moses took the rod from before the LORD as he commanded him.
10
And Moses and Aaron gathered the congregation together before the rock, and he said unto them, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock?
11
Then Moses lifted up his hand, and with his rod he smote the rock twice; and the water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their beasts
also.
12
And the LORD spoke unto Moses and Aaron, Because ye believed me not, to sanctify me in the eyes of the sons of Israel, therefore, ye shall not bring this congregation into the land which I have given them.
13
These
are the waters of Meribah; over which the sons of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them.
14
And Moses sent ambassadors from Kadesh unto the king of Edom, Thus saith thy brother Israel, Thou knowest all the travail that has befallen us:
15
how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we were in Egypt a long time; and the Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers;
16
and we cried unto the LORD, who heard our voice, and sent an angel and has brought us forth out of Egypt; and, behold, we
are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of thy border.
17
Let us pass, I pray thee, through thy country; we will not pass through the fields or through the vineyards, neither will we drink
of the water of the wells; we will go by the king’s
high way, we will not turn to the right hand nor to the left until we have passed thy borders.