Miriam and Aaron Challenge Moses
1Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married — for he had married a Cushite woman. 2They said, “Has Yahweh spoken only through Moses? Has he not also spoken through us?” And Yahweh heard it. 3Now the man Moses was very humble, more so than anyone else on the face of the earth. 4Suddenly Yahweh said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, all three of you, to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them went out. 5Yahweh came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent. He called Aaron and Miriam, and the two of them stepped forward. 6He said, “Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, I, Yahweh, make myself known to him in a vision; I speak with him in a dream. 7Not so with my servant Moses; he is faithful in all my house. 8With him I speak face to face, plainly and not in riddles, and he beholds the form of Yahweh. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?” 9Yahweh’s anger burned against them, and he departed.
Miriam’s Punishment
10As the cloud withdrew from above the tent, there was Miriam, leprous, white as snow. Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was, leprous. 11Aaron said to Moses, “Please, my lord, do not hold against us this sin we have so foolishly committed. 12Do not let her be like a stillborn child, whose flesh is half consumed when it comes out of its mother’s womb.” 13So Moses cried out to Yahweh, “God, please heal her!” 14Yahweh said to Moses, “If her father had merely spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut outside the camp for seven days, and after that she may be brought back in.” 15So Miriam was shut outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not set out until Miriam was brought back in. 16After that, the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.
