A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Exodus 17
Exodus 17 is the seventeenth chapter of the book of Exodus and a chapter of two famous wilderness episodes: water from the rock at Rephidim, and the battle with Amalek with Moses's arms upheld by Aaron and Hur. The 16-verse chapter is short but holds two patterns that recur throughout the rest of the Pentateuch.
The chapter opens with the congregation leaving the Desert of Sin and camping at Rephidim, where there is no water. The people contend with Moses for water. Moses asks why they are contending with him and testing the LORD. They grumble, "Why have you brought us out of Egypt to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?" Moses cries out to the LORD. He is told to walk on ahead, take the elders, and take in his hand the staff with which he struck the Nile. The LORD will stand on the rock at Horeb. When Moses strikes it, water will come out for the people. Moses does this in the sight of the elders. He names the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled there and tested the LORD, asking, "Is the LORD among us or not?"
The Amalekites come and attack the Israelites at Rephidim. Moses tells Joshua to choose some men and go out to fight; tomorrow Moses himself will stand on the hilltop with the staff of God in his hand. Joshua fights the Amalekites while Moses, Aaron, and Hur go up to the top of the hill. As long as Moses holds up his hands, Israel prevails; when he lowers them, Amalek prevails. When Moses's hands grow heavy, they put a stone under him to sit on. Aaron and Hur hold his hands up, one on each side, so that his hands remain steady until the sun goes down. Joshua overwhelms Amalek and his army with the sword.
The LORD then tells Moses to write this on a scroll as a reminder and to recite it to Joshua: "I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven." Moses builds an altar and names it The LORD Is My Banner, saying, "A hand was lifted up toward the throne of the LORD. The LORD will war against Amalek from generation to generation."
Verse 1. Then the whole congregation of Israel left the Desert of Sin, moving from place to place as the LORD commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.
Verse 2. So the people contended with Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why do you contend with me?” Moses replied. “Why do you test the LORD?”
Verse 3. But the people thirsted for water there, and they grumbled against Moses: “Why have you brought us out of Egypt—to make us and our children and livestock die of thirst?”
Verse 4. Then Moses cried out to the LORD, “What should I do with these people? A little more and they will stone me!”
Verse 5. And the LORD said to Moses, “Walk on ahead of the people and take some of the elders of Israel with you. Take along in your hand the staff with which you struck the Nile, and go.
Verse 6. Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. And when you strike the rock, water will come out of it for the people to drink.” So Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel.
Verse 7. He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
Verse 8. After this, the Amalekites came and attacked the Israelites at Rephidim.
Verse 9. So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our men and go out to fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I will stand on the hilltop with the staff of God in my hand.”
Verse 10. Joshua did as Moses had instructed him and fought against the Amalekites, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
Verse 11. As long as Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed; but when he lowered them, Amalek prevailed.
Verse 12. When Moses’ hands grew heavy, they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Then Aaron and Hur held his hands up, one on each side, so that his hands remained steady until the sun went down.
Verse 13. So Joshua overwhelmed Amalek and his army with the sword.
Verse 14. Then the LORD said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as a reminder and recite it to Joshua, because I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”
Verse 15. And Moses built an altar and named it The LORD Is My Banner.
Verse 16. “Indeed,” he said, “a hand was lifted up toward the throne of the LORD. The LORD will war against Amalek from generation to generation.”
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