¹And the sons of Israel – the whole congregation – came to the Desert of Zin in the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh, and Miriam died there and was buried there. ²And there was no water for the congregation, and they convened together against Moses and against Aaron. ³And the people contended with Moses and spoke and said, “If only we had expired when our brothers expired before the Lord. ⁴Now why have you brought the Lord's convocation to this desert to die here – us and our cattle? ⁵And why have you brought us up from Egypt to bring us to this bad place? There is no place with seed or figs or vine or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” ⁶Then Moses and Aaron went from the convocation to the entrance to the tent of contact, and they fell face down, and the glory of the Lord appeared to them. ⁷And the Lord spoke to Moses and said, ⁸“Take the rod and convene the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will yield its water, and you will extract water from the rock for them, and you will give the congregation drink, and their cattle.” ⁹So Moses took the rod from its place before the Lord as he had commanded him. ¹⁰And Moses and Aaron convened the convocation in front of the rock, and he said to them, “Hear please, you rebels. Can we extract water from this rock for you?” ¹¹Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with the rod twice, whereupon much water came out, and the congregation and their cattle drank. ¹²Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you did not believe me, by sanctifying me in the eyes of the sons of Israel, you will not bring this convocation into the land which I have given them.” ¹³This is the water of Meribah because the sons of Israel contended with the Lord, and he was sanctified by it. ¹⁴Then Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying, “This is what your brother Israel says: ‘You know all the trouble which has come our way, ¹⁵how our fathers went down to Egypt and how we dwelt in Egypt for many days, and how Egypt afflicted us and our fathers, ¹⁶and how we cried out to the Lord and how he heeded us and sent an angel and led us out of Egypt, and so here we are in Kadesh, a town at the end of your territory. ¹⁷Please let us cross your country. We will not cross by fields or by vineyards, and we will not drink the water of the wells. We will take the royal route and we will not deviate to the right or to the left until we have crossed your territory.’ ” ¹⁸But Edom said to him, “You may not cross my country, otherwise I will come out against you with the sword.” ¹⁹Then the sons of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway, and if we drink your water – I or my cattle – then I will pay the price of it, but there is no alternative: I will cross on foot.” ²⁰Then he said, “You may not cross.” And Edom came out against him with a considerable number of people and with a strong hand. ²¹And Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory, and Israel turned away from it. ²²So they moved on from Kadesh, and the sons of Israel – the whole congregation – came to Mount Hor. ²³Then the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron at Mount Hor at the border of the land of Edom and said, ²⁴“Aaron will be gathered to his people, for he will not go into the land which I have given to the sons of Israel, because you rebelled against my word at the water of Meribah. ²⁵Take Aaron and Eleazar his son and bring them up Mount Hor. ²⁶And strip Aaron of his clothes, and clothe Eleazar his son with them, and Aaron will be gathered up and die there.” ²⁷And Moses did as the Lord had commanded, and they went up into Mount Hor in the sight of the whole of the congregation. ²⁸And Moses stripped Aaron of his clothes, and he clothed Eleazar his son with them, and Aaron died there on the summit of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain. ²⁹And all the congregation saw that Aaron had expired, and the whole house of Israel wept for Aaron for thirty days.