Water from the rock
1The whole community of Israel set out from the wilderness of Sin, traveling by stages as Yahweh commanded, and they camped at Rephidim, where there was no water for the people to drink. 2So the people quarreled with Moses. “Give us water to drink,” they said. Moses replied, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?” 3But the people were thirsty for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” they said. 4Moses cried out to Yahweh, “What am I to do with this people? They are almost ready to stone me.” 5Yahweh said to Moses, “Go on ahead of the people, and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. 6I will stand there before you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7He named the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled there, and because they tested Yahweh, saying, “Is Yahweh among us, or not?”
War against Amalek
8Then Amalek came and attacked Israel at Rephidim. 9Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some men for us, and go out and fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10Joshua did as Moses had told him and fought against Amalek, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11Whenever Moses raised his hand, Israel prevailed, and whenever he lowered his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12When Moses’ hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it, while Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on each side, so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down. 13So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his people with the sword. 14Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Write this down as a memorial in a scroll, and recite it to Joshua: I will completely blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.” 15Moses built an altar and named it Yahweh Nissi. 16He said, “A hand was raised against the throne of Yahweh: Yahweh will war against Amalek from generation to generation.”
