Numbers 12

International Standard Version

Aaron and Miriam Rebel

12 Miriam and Aaron rebelled against Moses on account of the Cushite woman that he had married. ² They asked, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he also spoken through us?”

But the Lord heard it.

³ Now the man Moses was very humble—more than any person on earth. ⁴ All of a sudden, the Lord told Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “The three of you are to come out to the Tent of Meeting.” So the three of them went out. ⁵ Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud, stood at the entrance to the Tent of Meeting, and summoned Aaron and Miriam. So both of them went forward.

⁶ Then he told the two of them: “Pay attention to what I have to say! When there is a prophet among you, won’t I, the Lord, reveal myself to him in a vision? Won’t I speak with him in a dream? ⁷ But that’s not how it is with my servant Moses, since he has been entrusted with my entire household! ⁸ I speak to him audibly^[a] and in visions, not in mysteries.^[b] If he can gaze at the image of the Lord, why aren’t you afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” ⁹ Because the Lord was very angry with them, he left, ¹⁰ but when the cloud ascended from the tent, Miriam had become leprous, as white as snow! Aaron turned toward Miriam, and she had leprosy!

¹¹ Aaron begged Moses, “I pray my lord, please don’t hold this sin against us, since we’ve acted foolishly and sinned in doing so. ¹² Please don’t let her be like one of the living dead, who is born with a congenital skin disease.”^[c]

¹³ So Moses prayed to the Lord: “O Lord, please heal her.”

¹⁴ But the Lord told Moses, “If her father had merely spit in her face, wouldn’t she be humiliated? She is to be placed in isolation for seven days. After that, she may be brought in.” ¹⁵ So Miriam was isolated outside the camp for seven days and the people didn’t travel until Miriam was brought in. ¹⁶ After that, the people traveled from Hazeroth and encamped in the Wilderness of Paran.