Numbers · Bible in Basic English
Numbers 20 Bible in Basic English
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
1 In the first month all the children of Israel came into the waste land of Zin, and put up their tents in Kadesh; there death came to Miriam, and they put her body to rest in the earth.
1 The children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came into the wilderness of Zin in the first month. The people stayed in Kadesh. Miriam died there, and was buried there.
2 And there was no water for the people: and they came together against Moses and against Aaron.
2 There was no water for the congregation; and they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron.
3 And the people were angry with Moses and said, If only death had overtaken us when our brothers came to their death before the Lord!
3 The people quarreled with Moses, and spoke, saying, “We wish that we had died when our brothers died before Yahweh!
4 Why have you taken the Lord's people into this waste, for death to come to us and to our cattle there?
4 Why have you brought Yahweh’s assembly into this wilderness, that we should die there, we and our animals?
5 Why have you made us come out of Egypt into this evil place? This is no place of seed or figs or vines or other fruits, and there is no water for drinking.
5 Why have you made us to come up out of Egypt, to bring us in to this evil place? It is no place of seed, or of figs, or of vines, or of pomegranates; neither is there any water to drink.”
6 Then Moses and Aaron went away from the people to the door of the Tent of meeting; and, falling on their faces there, they saw the glory of the Lord.
6 Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the door of the Tent of Meeting, and fell on their faces. Yahweh’s glory appeared to them.
7 And the Lord said to Moses,
7 Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying,
8 Take the rod, you and Aaron, your brother, and make all the people come together, and before their eyes give orders to the rock to give out its water; and so make water come out of the rock for them, and give the people and their cattle drink.
8 “Take the rod, and assemble the congregation, you, and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, that it pour out its water. You shall bring water to them out of the rock; so you shall give the congregation and their livestock drink.”
9 And Moses took the rod from before the Lord as he gave him orders.
9 Moses took the rod from before Yahweh, as he commanded him.
10 Then Moses and Aaron made the people come together in front of the rock, and he said to them, Give ear now, you people whose hearts are turned from the Lord; are we to get water for you out of the rock?
10 Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, “Hear now, you rebels! Shall we bring water out of this rock for you?”
11 And lifting up his hand, Moses gave the rock two blows with his rod: and water came streaming out, and the people and their cattle had drink enough.
11 Moses lifted up his hand, and struck the rock with his rod twice, and water came out abundantly. The congregation and their livestock drank.
12 Then the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Because you had not enough faith in me to keep my name holy before the children of Israel, you will not take this people into the land which I have given them.
12 Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, “Because you didn’t believe in me, to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land which I have given them.”
13 These are the waters of Meribah; because the children of Israel went against the Lord, and they saw that he was holy among them.
13 These are the waters of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with Yahweh, and he was sanctified in them.
14 Then Moses sent men from Kadesh to the king of Edom to say to him, Your brother Israel says, You have knowledge of all the things we have been through;
14 Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom, saying: “Your brother Israel says: You know all the travail that has happened to us;
15 How our fathers went down into Egypt, and we were living in Egypt for a long time; and the Egyptians were cruel to us and to our fathers:
15 how our fathers went down into Egypt, and we lived in Egypt a long time. The Egyptians mistreated us and our fathers.
16 And the Lord gave ear to the voice of our cry, and sent an angel and took us out of Egypt: and now we are in Kadesh, a town on the edge of your land;
16 When we cried to Yahweh, he heard our voice, sent an angel, and brought us out of Egypt. Behold, we are in Kadesh, a city in the edge of your border.
17 Let us now go through your land: we will not go into field or vine-garden, or take the water of the springs; we will go by the highway, not turning to the right or to the left, till we have gone past the limits of your land.
17 “Please let us pass through your land. We will not pass through field or through vineyard, neither will we drink from the water of the wells. We will go along the king’s highway. We will not turn away to the right hand nor to the left, until we have passed your border.”
18 And Edom said, You are not to go through my land, for if you do I will come out against you with the sword.
18 Edom said to him, “You shall not pass through me, lest I come out with the sword against you.”
19 And the children of Israel said to him, We will go up by the highway: and if we or our cattle take of your water, we will give you a price for it: only let us go through on our feet, nothing more.
19 The children of Israel said to him, “We will go up by the highway; and if we drink your water, I and my livestock, then I will give its price. Only let me, without doing anything else, pass through on my feet.”
20 But he said, You are not to go through. And Edom came out against them in his strength, with a great army.
20 He said, “You shall not pass through.” Edom came out against him with many people, and with a strong hand.
21 So Edom would not let Israel go through his land; and Israel went in another direction.
21 Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his border, so Israel turned away from him.
22 And they went on from Kadesh, and came, with all their people, to Mount Hor.
22 They traveled from Kadesh, and the children of Israel, even the whole congregation, came to Mount Hor.
23 And at Mount Hor, at the edge of the land of Edom, the Lord said to Moses and Aaron,
23 Yahweh spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor, by the border of the land of Edom, saying,
24 Aaron will be put to rest with his people; he will not go into the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you went against my word at the waters of Meribah.
24 “Aaron shall be gathered to his people; for he shall not enter into the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against my word at the waters of Meribah.
25 So take Aaron and Eleazar, his son, up into Mount Hor;
25 Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor;
26 And take Aaron's robes off him and put them on Eleazar, his son: and death will come to Aaron there, and he will be put to rest with his people.
26 and strip Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron shall be gathered, and shall die there.”
27 So Moses did as the Lord had said, and before the eyes of all the people they went up Mount Hor.
27 Moses did as Yahweh commanded. They went up onto Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.
28 And Moses took off Aaron's robes, and put them on Eleazar, his son; and there on the top of the mountain death came to Aaron: then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.
28 Moses stripped Aaron of his garments, and put them on Eleazar his son. Aaron died there on the top of the mountain, and Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.
29 And when the people saw that Aaron was dead, all the children of Israel gave themselves up to weeping for him for thirty days.
29 When all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, they wept for Aaron thirty days, even all the house of Israel.
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Eleazar
Aaron's son who succeeded him as high priest and served alongside Joshua.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 6:23; Numbers 20:25-28
Moses
Drawn from the Nile, he led Israel out of Egypt and received God's Law.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2–Deuteronomy 34
Cross references (26)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Numbers 13:21; Exodus 15:20; Numbers 33:36; Numbers 26:59; Numbers 27:14
- 2 Numbers 16:19; Numbers 16:42; Exodus 15:23–24; Exodus 16:12; Numbers 16:3
- 3 Exodus 17:2; Numbers 16:31–35; Numbers 14:1–2; Exodus 16:2–3; Numbers 11:33–34
- 4 Exodus 17:3; Psalm 106:21; Exodus 14:11–12; Numbers 16:41; Numbers 11:5
- 5 Numbers 16:14; Jeremiah 2:6; Ezekiel 20:36; Jeremiah 2:2; Nehemiah 9:21
- 6 Numbers 14:5; Numbers 16:22; Numbers 16:19; Numbers 16:4; Numbers 16:45
- 8 Exodus 4:17; Isaiah 43:20; Exodus 17:5–6; Revelation 22:17; John 16:24
- 9 Numbers 17:10
- 10 Psalm 106:32–33; James 3:2; Matthew 5:22; Genesis 41:16; Luke 9:54–55
- 11 1 Corinthians 10:4; Exodus 17:6; Deuteronomy 8:15; Numbers 20:8; Psalm 78:16
- 12 Deuteronomy 1:37; Numbers 27:14; Ezekiel 36:23; Numbers 20:24; Deuteronomy 3:23–27
- 13 Psalm 95:8; Exodus 17:7; Deuteronomy 33:8; Deuteronomy 32:51; Psalm 106:32–48
- 14 Judges 11:16–17; Deuteronomy 23:7; Genesis 32:3–4; Deuteronomy 2:4–25; Obadiah 10–12
- 15 Genesis 46:6; Deuteronomy 26:6; Exodus 12:40; Acts 7:15; Genesis 15:13
- 16 Exodus 14:19; Exodus 33:2; Exodus 23:20; Exodus 3:2–9; Exodus 2:23–24
- 17 Deuteronomy 2:27; Deuteronomy 2:1–4; Numbers 21:1; Numbers 21:22–24; Deuteronomy 2:29
- 19 Deuteronomy 2:28; Deuteronomy 2:6; Exodus 12:38
- 20 Amos 1:11; Judges 11:17; Numbers 20:18; Genesis 32:6; Ezekiel 35:5–11
- 21 Judges 11:18; Deuteronomy 2:29; Judges 11:24; Deuteronomy 2:27; Deuteronomy 23:7
- 22 Numbers 20:14; Numbers 21:4; Numbers 20:1; Numbers 13:26; Numbers 34:7
- 23 Numbers 33:37
- 24 Genesis 25:8; Deuteronomy 32:50; Numbers 27:13; Numbers 20:10–12; Numbers 31:2
- 25 Numbers 33:38–39
- 26 Numbers 20:24; Isaiah 22:21–22; Exodus 29:29–30; Hebrews 7:11; Hebrews 7:23–24
- 28 Deuteronomy 10:6; Exodus 29:29–30; Deuteronomy 32:49–50; 1 Chronicles 22:11–12; Deuteronomy 34:9
- 29 Deuteronomy 34:8; Genesis 1:10; 2 Chronicles 35:24–25; Acts 8:2
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences