Exodus 17:1-7, annotated

This translation is from the New American Standard Bible. Other translations are available here. Information about the original Hebrew meaning of what seem to be the key words is provided immediately below the scriptural text. 

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Then all the congregation of the sons of Israel journeyed by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the command of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. ² Therefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water that we may drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test the Lord?” ³ But the people thirsted there for water; and they grumbled against Moses and said, “Why, now, have you brought us up from Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 

 

⁴So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “What shall I do to this people? A little more and they will stone me.” ⁵ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Pass before the people and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and take in your hand your staff with which you struck the Nile, and go. ⁶ Behold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb; and you shall strike the rock, and water will come out of it, that the people may drink.” And Moses did so in the sight of the elders of Israel. ⁷ He named the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the sons of Israel, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us, or not?”

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quarreled, quarrel = רִיב = rîḇ  Blue Letter Bible   to strive, contend; to conduct a case or suit (legal), sue to make complaint; to quarrel; to contend against

test  = נָסָה = nacah  Blue Letter Bible   try, prove, tempt, assay, put to the proof or test

 

grumbled = לוּן = lûn  Blue Letter Bible  to lodge, stop over, pass the night, abide; rest; to stay permanently; lie all night; tarry 

 

cried out = צָעַק = ṣāʿaq  Blue Letter Bible call, cry for help, cry out in distress, need; make outcry, clamor;  to call together; to shriek

 

Massah = מַסָּה = massâ  Blue Letter Bible  temptation, trial, calamity

 

Meribah = מְרִיבָה = mᵊrîḇâ  Blue Letter Bible  strife, contention  

 

quarrel = רִיב = rîḇ  Blue Letter Bible   strife, controversy, disputes; quarrel; contention; striving; public hostilities