Numbers 12 Contemporary English Version

Miriam and Aaron Are Jealous of Moses

12 ^1-3^(A) Although Moses was the most humble person in all the world, Miriam and Aaron started complaining, “Moses had no right to marry that woman from Ethiopia!^[a] Who does he think he is? The Lord has spoken to us, not just to him.”

The Lord heard their complaint ⁴and told Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to come to the entrance of the sacred tent. ⁵There the Lord appeared in a cloud and told Aaron and Miriam to come closer. ⁶Then after commanding them to listen carefully, he said:

“I, the Lord, speak to prophets
    in visions and dreams.
⁷^(B) But my servant Moses
    is the leader of my people.
⁸He sees me face to face,
and everything I say to him
    is perfectly clear.
You have no right to criticize
    my servant Moses.”

⁹The Lord became angry with Aaron and Miriam. And after the Lord left ¹⁰and the cloud disappeared from over the sacred tent, Miriam's skin turned white with leprosy.^[b] When Aaron saw what had happened to her, ¹¹he said to Moses, “Sir, please don't punish us for doing such a foolish thing. ¹²Don't let Miriam's flesh rot away like a child born dead!”

¹³Moses prayed, “Lord God, please heal her.”

¹⁴^(C) But the Lord replied, “Miriam would be disgraced for seven days if her father had punished her by spitting in her face. So make her stay outside the camp for seven days, before coming back.”

¹⁵The people of Israel did not move their camp until Miriam returned seven days later. ¹⁶Then they left Hazeroth and set up camp in the Paran Desert.

Footnotes

12.1-3 Ethiopia: The Hebrew text has “Cush,” which was a region south of Egypt that included parts of the present countries of Ethiopia and Sudan.
12.10 leprosy: See the note at 5.2,3.