Numbers 12

The Murmuring of Miriam and Aaron

1Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a 1Cushite woman); 22and they said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” And the Lord heard it. 3(Now the man Moses was 3very humble, more than any man who was on the face of the earth.) 4Suddenly the Lord said to Moses and Aaron and to Miriam, “You three come out to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them came out. 54Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tent, and He called 5Aaron and Miriam. When they had both come forward, 6He said, “Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, shall make Myself known to him in a 6vision. I shall speak with him in a 7dream.7Not so, with 8My servant Moses, 9He is faithful in all My household;810With him I speak mouth to mouth, Even openly, and not in dark sayings, And he beholds 11the form of the Lord. Why then were you not afraid To speak against My servant, against Moses?”

9So the anger of the Lord burned against them and 12He departed. 10But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, 13Miriam was leprous, as 14white as snow. As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous. 11Then Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, I beg you, 15do not account this sin to us, in which we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned. 12Oh, do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes from his mother’s womb!” 13Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “O God, 16heal her, I pray!” 14But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but 17spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut up for seven days 18outside the camp, and afterward she may be received again.” 15So 19Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was received again.

16Afterward, however, the people moved out from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.