Numbers 12:13

13 Moses cried out to the LORD, saying, "O God, ¹heal her, I pray!"

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 Then Aaron said to Moses, "Oh, my lord , I beg you, do 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 LORD , saying, "O God, heal her, I pray!"

14 But the LORD said to Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days outside the camp, and afterward she may be received again."

15 So Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was received again.

Cross References

• 1. Psalms 30:2; Psalms 41:4; Isaiah 30:26; Jeremiah 17:14