Numbers 20:2-23

2The people did not have any water to drink. They complained to Moses and Aaron.

3They said to Moses, ‘We would rather be dead! When the Lord killed our brothers, he should have killed us too.

4We are the Lord's people. Have you brought us and our animals here to die?

5You should not have brought us to this very bad place. When we were in Egypt, we had grain, figs, grapes and pomegranates. There is no food like that here! And there is no water to drink!’

6Moses and Aaron went away from the people to the door of the Tent of Meeting. They threw themselves down with their faces towards the ground. The glory of the Lord appeared to them.

7The Lord said to Moses,

8‘Get the stick. Take your brother Aaron with you and go to the whole group of the Israelites. Then speak to that rock that you can all see. Water will pour out from it. Then the people and their animals can drink it.’

9So Moses did what the Lord had told him. He took the stick from its place in the Lord's Tent of Meeting.

10Then Moses and Aaron brought all the people to meet in front of the rock. Moses said to them, ‘Listen now, you people who refuse to obey God. It seems that we must bring water out of this rock for you!’

11Moses lifted up his arm. He hit the rock twice with his stick. Water poured out from the rock. The people and their animals drank the water.

12The Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ‘You did not trust me enough to show the Israelites that I am holy. So you will not lead them into the land that I have promised to give to them.’

13The place where this happened was called ‘Meribah’, because the Israelites quarrelled with the Lord there. But he showed them there that he was their holy God.

14From Kadesh, Moses sent men to the king of Edom with this message: ‘We are Israelites, your relatives. We should be friendly to each other. You know about all the troubles that have happened to us.

15Our ancestors went to Egypt. We lived there for many years. The people in Egypt were cruel to us.

16But when we asked the Lord to help us, he heard us. He sent an angel and he brought us out from Egypt. Now we are here at Kadesh, which is a town at the border of your land.

17Please let us travel through your land. We will not go through any fields or through any vineyards. We will not even drink water from your wells. We will go along the main road. We will not leave that road on either side until we have gone through all your land.’

18The king of Edom said, ‘You must not travel through my country. If you do, we will bring our army to attack you.’

19The Israelites replied, ‘We will stay on the main road. If our animals drink your water, we will pay for it. We only want to travel through your country. We do not want anything else.’

20The king of Edom said, ‘No, you must not travel through our country.’ He sent many strong soldiers to attack the Israelites.

21In that way, the Edomites stopped the Israelites from travelling through Edom. So the Israelites turned away from there.

22All the Israelites went from Kadesh to Hor mountain.

23When they were there, at the border of Edom's land, the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron.