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Numbers 20:7–13, King James Version
Italic words were supplied in the English translation for clarity.
Numbers 20:7–13
Water Comes from the Rock, but Moses and Aaron Fail
The instruction is staff, assembly, speech, and water for beasts
The LORD tells Moses to take the rod, gather the assembly with Aaron, and speak to the rock before their eyes. It will give water. The congregation and their beasts are to drink. Thirst remains the situation. People and animals need water, and the command names a public word, not a private technique.
Moses speaks to the people, strikes twice, and water still comes
Moses takes the rod as he was told. He and Aaron gather the congregation. Moses says, Hear now, ye rebels; must we fetch you water out of this rock? He lifts his hand and strikes the rock twice. Water comes out abundantly, and the congregation drinks, and their beasts drink.
The people receive what they lacked. The leaders are then told they will not bring this assembly into the land, because they did not believe the LORD, to sanctify him in the eyes of the children of Israel. The place is called Meribah because Israel strove there, and he was sanctified in them.
The stated charge is unbelief and a failure to sanctify
The unit gives that verdict. It also shows Moses calling the people rebels and striking the rock he was told to address. It does not supply a further inner motive. Interpreters argue over which narrated detail is the heart of the offense. Teaching the passage means keeping the thirst, the provision, and the judgment in view without inventing a psychology Moses never states.
How this should shape us
When a community is thirsty, provide. When a leader is judged, stay with the charge the text actually speaks: they did not trust God so as to treat him as holy before the people. Do not turn thirsty people into the villains of a leadership failure, and do not treat a leader as a miracle worker whose method may be copied.
Teach it back
Explain Numbers 20:7–13 in your own words. Include its place in Numbers' movement from Sinai to Moab, both movements within this thought unit, one material uncertainty, one affected person or group, and one use 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: Interpreters debate source layers, motives, gender, institutional history, Moses' failure, Joshua's relation to Eleazar, and whether specific scenes defend or critique power. The text's own gaps require stated uncertainty. For “Water Comes from the Rock, but Moses and Aaron Fail,” confidence is strongest in the received unit's stated sequence and literary function; source, date, demography, geography, mechanism, archaeology, and historical reconstruction remain probable, plausible, or uncertain as the evidence warrants.
How certain? probableResearch trail and exact locationsThe source record behind this section
Supports: Exact reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Numbers 20:7–13, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, numbers, speeches, poems, legal clauses, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Num.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 20:7–13
Supports: Unit-bounded translation, syntax, lexical, ritual, legal, number, name, poetic, and selected textual notes; silence is not evidence.
NET Bible Numbers PDF, complete 134-page PDF, translation and translator notes attached to 20:7–13
Supports: Final-form movement, wilderness setting, census and camp, complaint, leadership, composition, and ethical framing.
Yale Bible Study, Numbers Part 1, complete study guide sections “Introduction,” “At Sinai (1:1–10:10),” “From Sinai to Moab (10:11–22:1),” and “Composition,” applied to Numbers 20:7–13
Supports: Text's underexplained verdict on Moses and Aaron, material interpretive alternatives, leadership failure, and reception.
TheTorah, “Moses Strikes the Rock: His Sin Depends on Your Worldview,” complete survey of Numbers 20, Deuteronomic retellings, Psalm reception, and Jewish interpretive alternatives, applied to Numbers 20:7–13
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 reader-facing KJV wording, paragraph metadata, supplied-word markup, and complete verse coverage for this thought unit.
Exact location: Numbers 20:7–13, pinned eng-kjv2006 USFM corpus
Open source ↗hebrew text and morphology
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible: Numbers
Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project
Open Scriptures, release 2.2, 2021
Supports: Hebrew wording, morphology, names, numbers, speeches, poems, legal clauses, older-English controls, and translation limits.
Exact location: Open Scriptures MorphHB v.2.2, commit 6a5db284c715c18b239422e57bb89684e6a19f00, wlc/Num.xml, Masoretic words and morphology for 20:7–13
Open source ↗translation and translator notes
NET Bible: Numbers with translators' notes
Biblical Studies Press
eBible.org distribution of the NET Bible, source files dated 2026-08-08
Supports: Unit-bounded translation, syntax, lexical, ritual, legal, number, name, poetic, and selected textual notes; silence is not evidence.
Exact location: NET Bible Numbers PDF, complete 134-page PDF, translation and translator notes attached to 20:7–13
Open source ↗modern critical open study guide
Numbers Part 1
Yale Bible Study
Yale Divinity School, 2023 course edition
Supports: Final-form movement, wilderness setting, census and camp, complaint, leadership, composition, and ethical framing.
Exact location: Yale Bible Study, Numbers Part 1, complete study guide sections “Introduction,” “At Sinai (1:1–10:10),” “From Sinai to Moab (10:11–22:1),” and “Composition,” applied to Numbers 20:7–13
Open source ↗modern jewish scholarly open history of interpretation
Moses Strikes the Rock: His Sin Depends on Your Worldview
TheTorah.com named scholarly contributor
TheTorah.com, 2024
Supports: Text's underexplained verdict on Moses and Aaron, material interpretive alternatives, leadership failure, and reception.
Exact location: TheTorah, “Moses Strikes the Rock: His Sin Depends on Your Worldview,” complete survey of Numbers 20, Deuteronomic retellings, Psalm reception, and Jewish interpretive alternatives, applied to Numbers 20:7–13
Open source ↗