Exodus 17

The AIT Bible

Water from the Rock

1Then the whole congregation of the sons of Israel set out from the wilderness of Sin by their stages, according to the mouth of Yahweh, and they camped at Rephidim; but there was no water for the people to drink.

2So the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water, that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?”

3But the people thirsted there for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why is it that you brought us up out of Egypt to kill me and my children and my livestock with thirst?”

4Then Moses cried out to Yahweh, saying, “What shall I do with this people? A little more, and they will stone me!”

5And Yahweh said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and your staff, with which you struck the Nile, take in your hand and go.

6Behold, I will be standing before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel.

7And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah, because of the quarreling of the sons of Israel and because they tested Yahweh, saying, “Is Yahweh among us, or not?”

Israel Defeats Amalek

8Then Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.

9And Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will be stationed on the top of the hill, with the staff of God in my hand.”

10So Joshua did as Moses had said to him, to fight against Amalek; and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

11And it happened that whenever Moses raised his hand, Israel prevailed; and whenever he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed.

12But Moses’ hands grew heavy; so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur supported his hands, one on this side and one on that side; so his hands were steady until the going down of the sun.

13And Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.

14Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the book and place it in the ears of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens.”

15And Moses built an altar and called its name “Yahweh is my Banner,”

16and he said, “For a hand upon the throne of Yah! Yahweh will have war against Amalek from generation to generation.”

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