1 And Miriam speaks—Aaron also—against Moses concerning the circumstance of the Cushite woman whom he had taken, for he had taken a Cushite woman; 2 and they say, “Has YHWH only spoken by Moses? Has he not also spoken by us?” And YHWH hears. 3 And the man Moses [is] very humble, more than any of the men who [are] on the face of the ground. 4 And YHWH suddenly says to Moses, and to Aaron, and to Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the Tent of Meeting”; and those three come out. 5 And YHWH comes down in the pillar of the cloud, and stands at the opening of the tent, and calls Aaron and Miriam, and both of them come out. 6 And He says, “Now hear My words: If your prophet is of YHWH, || I make Myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. 7 Not so My servant Moses; He [is] steadfast in all My house. 8 I speak with him mouth to mouth, || Even [by] an appearance, and not in riddles; And he beholds the form of YHWH attentively. Now why have you not been afraid || To speak against My servant—against Moses?” 9 And the anger of YHWH burns against them, and He goes on, 10 and the cloud has turned aside from off the tent, and behold, Miriam [is] leprous as snow; and Aaron turns to Miriam, and behold, leprous! 11 And Aaron says to Moses, “O my lord, please do not lay [this] sin on us [in] which we have been foolish, and [in] which we have sinned; 12 please do not let her be as [one] dead, when in his coming out from the womb of his mother—the half of his flesh is consumed.” 13 And Moses cries to YHWH, saying, “O God, please give healing to her! Please!” 14 And YHWH says to Moses, “But [if] her father had but spat in her face—is she not ashamed [for] seven days? She is shut out [for] seven days at the outside of the camp, and afterward she is gathered.” 15 And Miriam is shut out at the outside of the camp [for] seven days, and the people have not journeyed until Miriam is gathered; 16 and afterward the people have journeyed from Hazeroth, and they encamp in the wilderness of Paran.
Numbers · Literal Standard Version
Numbers 12 Literal Standard Version
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Miriam
The sister who watched over baby Moses and later led Israel in song.
Cited in the guide: Exodus 2:1–8; 15:20–21; Numbers 12
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 (16)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Exodus 2:21; Genesis 26:34–35; Genesis 27:46; Genesis 24:37; Galatians 4:16
- 2 Ezekiel 35:12–13; Numbers 16:3; Philippians 2:14; Isaiah 37:4; Micah 6:4
- 3 Matthew 11:29; James 3:13; Matthew 5:5; 2 Corinthians 12:11; 2 Corinthians 11:5
- 4 Psalm 76:9; Numbers 16:16–21
- 5 Numbers 11:25; Exodus 34:5; Psalm 99:7; Exodus 40:38
- 6 1 Kings 3:5; Genesis 31:10–11; Genesis 46:2; Acts 22:17–18; Luke 1:22
- 7 Hebrews 3:2–6; Joshua 1:1; Psalm 105:26; 1 Corinthians 4:2; Matthew 11:11
- 8 Deuteronomy 34:10; 1 Corinthians 13:12; Exodus 33:11; Luke 10:16; Exodus 24:10–11
- 9 Numbers 11:1; Hosea 5:15; Genesis 17:22
- 10 Deuteronomy 24:9; 2 Kings 5:27; 2 Chronicles 26:19–21; Exodus 4:6; 2 Kings 15:5
- 11 2 Samuel 24:10; 2 Samuel 19:19; Proverbs 30:32; 1 Samuel 12:19; 1 Kings 13:6
- 12 Psalm 88:4–5; 1 Corinthians 15:8; Ephesians 2:1–5; Job 3:16; Psalm 58:8
- 13 James 5:15; Romans 12:21; Luke 6:28; Luke 23:34; Matthew 5:44–45
- 14 Deuteronomy 25:9; Job 30:10; Numbers 5:2–3; Isaiah 50:6; Leviticus 13:45–46
- 15 Deuteronomy 24:8–9; Micah 6:4; Micah 7:8–9; Habakkuk 3:2; Lamentations 3:32
- 16 Numbers 11:35; Numbers 33:18; Numbers 10:12; Genesis 21:21; Habakkuk 3:3
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… righteous man, and blameless, truthful, God-fearing, and one that kept himself from all evil." But bringing an accusation against himself, he said, "No man is free from defilement, even if his life be but of one day." Moses was called faithful in all God's house; and through his instrumentality, God punished Egypt with plagues and tortures.
… Moses himself, being a man of God, was indeed given as a god before Pharaoh; but he is not properly termed Lord, nor is called God by the prophets, but is spoken of by the Spirit as "Moses, the faithful minister and servant of God," which also he was.
Then afterwards great men whom we know, whom Holy Scriptures commends, Moses faithful in all his house. And yet those three are named, just as if they alone deserved well of him: "I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob: this is my name for ever." Sublime mystery!
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 7 (1888)
… who is doing this, He saith unto him, "Mourn not thou for Saul." Though for his own sister one entreat, when it is not fitting, he again shall have the same sort of answer as Moses, "If her father had but spit in her face." Let us not then be looking open-mouthed towards others.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 10 (1888)
And what wonder is it if those in Christ who were entrusted with such a duty by God, appointed those [ministers] before mentioned, when the blessed Moses also, "a faithful servant in all his house," noted down in the sacred books all the injunctions which were given him, and when the other prophets also followed him, bearing witness with one …