17Verse 1Obeying what Yahweh commanded, all the Israeli people moved from the Sin Desert. They/We traveled from one place to another. They/We camped at a place named Rephidim, but there was no water there for ◄the people/us► to drink.Verse 2So the people complained to Moses/me again, saying, “Give us water to drink!” Moses/I replied to them, “Why are you ◄criticizing/arguing with► me [RHQ]? And why are you trying to determine whether Yahweh has the power to provide for you?”Verse 3But the people were very thirsty, and they continued to complain to Moses/me. They were saying things like “Why did you bring us out of Egypt?”, and “Did you bring us here to cause us and our children and livestock to die ◄from thirst/because we had no water to drink► [RHQ]?”Verse 4So Moses/I prayed earnestly to Yahweh. He/I said, “◄How shall I deal with these people?/I do not know how to deal with these people!► [RHQ] They are almost ready to kill me by throwing stones at me!”Verse 5Yahweh replied to Moses/me, “Take some of the elders/leaders of the Israeli people with you and tell the rest of the people to follow you to Sinai Mountain. Take along the stick with which you struck the Nile River.Verse 6Listen carefully: I will stand in front of you on top of a large rock at the foot of the mountain. Strike the rock with your stick. When you do that, water for the people to drink will flow out of the rock.” When they/we arrived at the mountain, Moses/I did that while the Israeli elders were watching, and water flowed from the rock.Verse 7Moses/I gave that place two names in the Hebrew language: Massah, which means ‘testing’, and Meribah, which means ‘complaining’. He/I gave it the name Massah because the Israeli people were testing Yahweh, saying “Is Yahweh really among us and able to help us, or not?”, and he/I gave it the name Meribah because they were continually complaining.
God enabled the Israeli men to defeat the Amalekites
Verse 8Then the descendants of the Amalek people-group came and fought against the Israeli people at Rephidim.Verse 9Moses/I said to Joshua, who was one of our army/Israeli leaders, “Choose some men to go out and fight against the Amalek people-group tomorrow. I will stand on the top of the hill, holding the stick that God told me to carry.”Verse 10So Joshua did what Moses/I told him to do. He took some men to fight against the Amalek people-group. While they were fighting, Aaron, Hur, and Moses/I went up to the top of the hill so that they/we could see the whole battle area.Verse 11Whenever Moses/I lifted up his/my arms, the Israeli men started to win the battle. And whenever he/I lowered his/my arms, the Amalek people-group started to win.Verse 12But his/my arms became tired. So Aaron and Hur rolled a large stone for Moses/me to sit on. While he/I was sitting on it, those two held up his/my arms, one on one side and the other on the other side. In that way, they kept his/my arms lifted up, and his/my arms held steady until the sun went down.Verse 13So Joshua and the men with him completely defeated the Amalek people-group, using their swords to fight against them.Verse 14Then Yahweh said to Moses/me, “Write an account of this battle, and then read it to Joshua. Also write that some day I will completely get rid of the Amalek people-group.”Verse 15Then Moses/I built a stone altar there and named it ‘Yahweh is like my flag’.Verse 16He/I said, “Hold high Yahweh’s flag! Yahweh will continue to fight against the Amalek people-group ◄forever/in all future generations►!”