Miriam and Aaron Rebel

¹Miriam and Aaron criticised Moses because of the Cushite woman he married (for he had married a Cushite woman).[#12:1 Ex 15:20–21; Nm 20:1; 26:59; Dt 24:9]

²They said, ‘Does the Lord speak only through Moses? Does he not also speak through us? ’ And the Lord heard it.

³Moses was a very humble man, more so than anyone on the face of the earth.

⁴Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, ‘You three come out to the tent of meeting.’ So the three of them went out.

⁵Then the Lord descended in a pillar of cloud, stood at the entrance to the tent, and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them came forward,[#12:5 Dt 31:15]

⁶he said:

So why were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses? ’

⁹The Lord ’s anger burned against them, and he left.[#12:9 Ex 22:24; 32:10–11; Nm 11:1,10,33; 32:13; Dt 6:15]

¹⁰As the cloud moved away from the tent, Miriam’s skin suddenly became diseased, resembling snow. When Aaron turned towards her, he saw that she was diseased[#12:10 A reference to whiteness or flakiness of the skin]

¹¹and said to Moses, ‘My lord, please don’t hold against us this sin we have so foolishly committed.

¹²Please don’t let her be like a dead baby whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother’s womb.’[#12:12 Alt Hb tradition reads baby who comes out of our mother’s womb and our flesh is half eaten away.]

¹³Then Moses cried out to the Lord , ‘God, please heal her! ’[#12:13 Gn 20:17; Ex 15:26; Lv 14:3; Dt 32:39]

¹⁴The Lord answered Moses, ‘If her father had merely spat 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.’[#12:14 Lv 13:46; Nm 5:1–4; 2Kg 15:5; #12:14 Lv 13:4]

¹⁵So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was brought back in.[#12:15 Lv 14:2,8]

¹⁶After that, the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.