Exodus 17:1–7, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Exodus 17:1–7
Water from the Rock at Massah and Meribah
No water, and a charge that God and Moses mean to kill them
The congregation journeys by stages from the wilderness of Sin, according to the LORD's commandment, and camps at Rephidim. There is no water for the people to drink. They chide Moses and say, give us water. Moses asks why they chide him and why they tempt the LORD. They thirst, and they murmur: why did you bring us out of Egypt to kill us, our children, and our cattle with thirst?
Water from the rock, and a name that keeps the question
Moses cries that they are almost ready to stone him. The LORD tells him to go before the people, take the elders, take the rod that struck the river, and go. God will stand before him on the rock in Horeb; he is to strike the rock, and water will come out. He does so in the sight of the elders. He names the place Massah and Meribah because of the chiding and because they tempted the LORD, saying, 'Is the LORD among us, or not?'
The need is real; the accusation is fierce; the provision is public. The place-name refuses to drop either the quarrel or the testing question about presence. Thirsty people are not thereby proved faithless in every later case, and leaders are not free to treat urgent need as a spiritual inconvenience.
How this should shape us
Provide safe water first. Then review why the system failed and how leaders answered frightened people. Do not use 'testing God' language to dismiss a crowd whose children and cattle are dying of thirst.
Teach it back
Explain Exodus 17:1–7 in your own words. Include both movements, its place in Exodus, one historical or compositional uncertainty, one affected person or group, and one conclusion the complete context rules out.
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Go deeper
The explanation above is meant to stand on its own. Open these notes only if you want language, history, disagreements, or source locations.
Where careful interpreters disagreeThe strongest options and their difficulties
Where do careful interpreters disagree?
Best judgment: Careful interpreters agree that the received text states the following: At Rephidim thirst becomes accusation and a threat against Moses; God provides water from the Horeb rock, while the place-name preserves Israel's testing question about divine presence. They disagree over source layers, date, historical recovery, archaeology, Hebrew details, ritual development, legal use, and canonical relationship in different proportions; this study treats the final form directly while marking those alternatives as probable or uncertain rather than settled fact.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exodus 17:1–7, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, names, speech, law, ritual vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Exod.xml, words and morphology for 17:1–7
Supports: Unit-bounded Hebrew, syntax, lexical, textual, name, measure, legal, ritual, and older-English notes; silence is not evidence.
NET Bible Exodus PDF, complete 127-page PDF, translation and verse-attached translator notes for 17:1–7
Supports: Book movement, historicity and archaeology limits, literary plurality, final-form reading, and Exodus's place in Torah.
Yale Bible Study, Exodus Introduction study guide, pp. 1–6: 'Exodus and the Patriarchs,' 'The Historicity of the Exodus,' 'The Sources in Exodus,' and 'The Book of Exodus'
Sources for This Section
These records identify the source, the claim it supports, and the exact location used. A source remains evidence to evaluate; it does not replace the biblical text.
Biblical text
King James (Authorized) Version — eng-kjv2006
eBible.org and CrossWire Bible Society
USFM archive eng-kjv2006_usfm.zip; source files dated 2026-08-19; downloaded 2026-08-24; archive SHA-256 aec1b3b26c622fd3d963d2bbac963016b9513246ffbfa20da00bb100372ea007; normalized corpus SHA-256 09aef51d90488aa7b9722b3fd9a93f4b25f6bf2064c5fd798fb39673c300ddf2.
Supports: Exact KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Exodus 17:1–7, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Exodus
Open Scriptures
Open Scriptures, release 2.2
Supports: Masoretic Hebrew wording, morphology, names, speech, law, ritual vocabulary, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Exod.xml, words and morphology for 17:1–7
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Exodus with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, PDF generated 2026-08-12
Supports: Unit-bounded Hebrew, syntax, lexical, textual, name, measure, legal, ritual, and older-English notes; silence is not evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Exodus PDF, complete 127-page PDF, translation and verse-attached translator notes for 17:1–7
Open source ↗open university course study guide
Exodus Introduction Study Guide
Joel S. Baden and John J. Collins
Yale Bible Study, 2019 course edition
Supports: Book movement, historicity and archaeology limits, literary plurality, final-form reading, and Exodus's place in Torah.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, Exodus Introduction study guide, pp. 1–6: 'Exodus and the Patriarchs,' 'The Historicity of the Exodus,' 'The Sources in Exodus,' and 'The Book of Exodus'
Open source ↗