The Murmuring of Miriam and Aaron
1 Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married, for he had married an Ethiopian woman. 2 They said, “Has the Lord indeed spoken only with Moses? Hasn’t he spoken also with us?” And the Lord heard it.
3 Now the man, Moses, was very meek, more than all the men who were on the face of the earth. 4 The Lord spoke suddenly to Moses, to Aaron, and to Miriam, “You three come out to the Tent of Meeting!”
The three of them came out. 5 The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the door of the Tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and they both came forward.
6 He said, “Now hear my words:
If there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, will make myself known to him in a vision.
I will speak with him in a dream.
7 This is not so with my servant Moses.
He is faithful in all my house.
8 With him, I speak plainly, face to face
and not in riddles,
and he shall see the Lord’s form.
Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?” 9 The Lord’s anger burned against them, and he departed.
10 The cloud departed from over the Tent, and Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. Aaron looked at Miriam and saw that she was leprous.
11 Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, please do not count this sin against us, which we have done foolishly and have transgressed. 12 Let her not, I pray, be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb.”
13 Moses cried to the Lord, saying, “Heal her, O Lord, I beg you!”
14 The Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut up outside of the camp for seven days, and after that she shall be brought in again.”
15 Miriam was shut up outside of the camp for seven days, and the people did not travel until Miriam was brought in again. 16 Afterward the people traveled from Hazeroth and encamped in the wilderness of Paran.