Numbers 12

Miriam and Aaron Speak Against Moses

1Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married, for he had married a Cushite woman. 2They said, “Has the LORD spoken only through Moses? Has the LORD not also spoken through us?” And the LORD heard it. 3Now the man Moses was very humble, more than anyone else on the face of the ground.

The LORD Speaks at the Tent

4Suddenly the LORD said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, all three of you, to the Tent of Meeting.” So the three of them came out. 5Then the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam, and the two of them came forward. 6And the LORD said:
“Hear my words:
When there is a prophet among you,
I, the LORD, make myself known in a vision;
I speak with that one in a dream. 7Not so with my servant Moses;
he is faithful in all my house. 8Mouth to mouth I speak with him,
plainly, and not in riddles,
and he beholds the form of the LORD.
Why then were you not afraid
to speak against my servant Moses?”

Miriam Is Struck and Restored

9The anger of the LORD burned against them, and the LORD departed. 10When the cloud moved away from over the tent, look—Miriam was diseased, white as snow. Aaron turned toward Miriam, and look—she was diseased. 11Then Aaron said to Moses, “Please, my lord, do not lay upon us the sin in which we acted foolishly and sinned. 12Please do not let her be like one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when coming out of the mother’s womb.”

13So Moses cried to the LORD, saying, “O God, please heal her—please!” 14But the LORD said to Moses, “If her father had merely spit in her face, would she not bear shame for seven days? Let her be shut outside the camp seven days, and afterward she may be brought back.” 15So Miriam was shut outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not set out until Miriam was brought back. 16Afterward the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.