Números 12

Miriam and Aaron speak against Moses

¹Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses on account of the Cushite woman he had married, since he had married a Cushite woman.^{a 2}“Is it only through Moses that the LORD has spoken?” they said. “Has he not spoken through us too?” And the LORD heard it. ³Now Moses was exceedingly humble, more so than any other human being on earth.

⁴Without warning the LORD spoke to Moses, Aaron and Miriam: “You three, come out to the tent of meeting.” And the three went out. ⁵The LORD came down in a pillar of cloud and took his stand at the entrance of the tent. He called Aaron and Miriam, and the two of them came forward. ⁶Then he said, “Hear what I say: \q whenever you have a prophet, \q I, the LORD, make myself known to him in a vision; \q in a dream I speak with him.^{b 7}It is not so with my servant Moses; \q he is trusted in all my household. ⁸I speak with him mouth to mouth, openly and not in riddles, \q and he looks on the form of the LORD. \q How is it, then, that you were not afraid \q to speak against my servant Moses?” ⁹The anger of the LORD blazed against them, and he departed. ¹⁰As the cloud withdrew from above the tent, there was Miriam, stricken with a serious skin disease, like snow. Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there she was with the disease. ¹¹Aaron said to Moses, “Please, my lord, do not make us bear the penalty for the sin we committed in our foolishness. ¹²Do not let her be like a child born dead, half its flesh already wasted when it leaves its mother’s womb.”^{c 13}So Moses cried out to the LORD, “O God, please heal her!”

Miriam shut outside the camp

¹⁴The LORD answered Moses, “If her father had merely spit in her face, would she not carry her shame for seven days? She must be shut outside the camp seven days; then she may be taken back in.” ¹⁵So Miriam was shut outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not break camp until she had been taken back in. ¹⁶After that the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.