Water from the Rock
1 The whole congregation of the Israelites journeyed from the wilderness of Sin, traveling according to the Lord’s command and encamped in Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.
2 Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.”
Moses said to them, “Why are you quarreling with me? Why are you testing the Lord?”
3 There the people thirsted for water, so the people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why have you brought us up out of Egypt, to kill us, our children, and our livestock with thirst?”
4 Moses cried to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
5 The Lord said to Moses, “Go before the people and take the elders of Israel with you and take the staff in your hand with which you struck the Nile and go. 6 I will stand before you there on the rock in Horeb. You shall strike the rock and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.”
Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He called the place Massah and Meribah, because the Israelites quarreled and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
The Defeat of the Amalekites
8 Then Amalek came and fought with Israel in Rephidim. 9 Moses said to Joshua, “Choose men for us and go out. Fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with God’s staff in my hand.”
10 So Joshua did as Moses had told him and fought with Amalek, and Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
11 When Moses held up his hand, Israel prevailed. When he let down his hand, Amalek prevailed. 12 When Moses’ hands became heavy, they took a stone and put it under him and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side, and his hands were steady until sunset.
13 Joshua defeated Amalek and his people with the edge of the sword.
14 The Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book, and rehearse it in the hearing of Joshua, that I will utterly blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”
15 Moses built an altar and called it “The Lord our Banner”. 16 He said, “The Lord has sworn: ‘The Lord will wage war against Amalek from generation to generation.’ ”