
Exodus 17
The Rock Struck, and the Hands Held Up
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Water from the Rock
17:1The whole congregation of the sons of Israel set out from the wilderness of Sin by their encampments, at the Lord’s word, and camped at Rephidim. There was no water for the people to drink.
17:2The people reviled Moses, saying, “Give us water to drink.” Moses said to them, “Why do you revile me? Why do you test the Lord?”
17:3The people thirsted there for water and grumbled there against Moses, saying, “Why have you brought us up from Egypt to kill us, our children, and the livestock with thirst?”
17:4Moses cried out to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? A little more, and they will stone me to death!”
17:5The Lord said to Moses, “Go on before this people and take some of the people’s elders with you. Take in your hand the staff with which you struck the river, and go.
17:6“Behold, I stand before you there on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it, and My people shall drink.” Moses did so in the sight of the sons of Israel.
17:7He named that place Testing and Reviling because the sons of Israel reviled and tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
War with the Amalekites
17:8Amalek came and fought with Israel at Rephidim.
17:9Moses said to Joshua, “Choose capable men for yourself and go out to take your stand against Amalek tomorrow. Behold, I will stand on the top of the hill with God’s staff in my hand.”
17:10Joshua did as Moses had told him and went out to take his stand against Amalek. Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.
17:11Whenever Moses raised his hands, Israel prevailed; whenever he lowered his hands, Amalek prevailed.
17:12Moses’ hands were heavy. They took a stone, put it beneath him, and he sat on it. Aaron and Hur steadied his hands, one on each side, so that Moses’ hands remained supported until sunset.
17:13Joshua routed Amalek and all his people with the slaughter of the sword.
17:14The Lord said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in a book and deliver it in Joshua’s hearing: I will utterly blot out Amalek’s remembrance from under heaven.”
17:15Moses built an altar to the Lord and named it The Lord Is My Refuge.
17:16For with a hidden hand the Lord fights against Amalek from generation to generation.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.