Numbers 12

Miriam and Aaron Rebel

¹Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because of the Cushite woman he married (for he had married a Cushite woman).²³They said, “Does the Lord speak only through Moses? Does he not also speak through us?” And the Lord heard it.⁴⁵Moses was a very humble man, more so than anyone on the face of the earth.⁶

⁷Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “You three come out to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them went out.⁸⁹Then 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,¹⁰¹¹he said: “Listen to what I say: If there is a prophet among you from the Lord, I make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream.¹²

¹³Not so with my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my household.¹⁴

¹⁵I speak with him directly, openly, and not in riddles; he sees the form of the Lord. So why were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?”¹⁶¹⁷The Lord’s anger burned against them, and he left.¹⁸

¹⁹As the cloud moved away from the tent, Miriam’s skin suddenly became diseased, resembling snow. When Aaron turned toward her, he saw that she was diseased²⁰²¹and said to Moses, “My lord, please don’t hold against us this sin we have so foolishly committed.²²²³Please don’t let her be like a dead baby whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother’s womb.”²⁴

²⁵Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “God, please heal her!”²⁶

²⁷The Lord answered Moses, “If her father had merely spit 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.”²⁸²⁹So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was brought back in.³⁰³¹After that, the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.³²