Water from the Rock

1 ^wAll the congregation of the people of Israel moved on from the wilderness of Sin by stages, according to the commandment of the Lord, and camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 ^xTherefore the people quarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to drink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you ^ytest the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and ^zthe people grumbled against Moses and said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt, to kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?” 4 So Moses cried to the Lord, “What shall I do with this people? They are almost ready ^ato stone me.” 5 And the Lord said to Moses, “Pass on before the people, taking with you some of the elders of Israel, and take in your hand the staff with ^bwhich you struck the Nile, and go. 6 ^cBehold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and water shall come out of it, and the people will drink.” And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 And he called the name of the place ^dMassah¹ and ^eMeribah,² because of the quarreling of the people of Israel, and because they tested the Lord by saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”

27 Then ^jthey came to Elim, where there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they encamped there by the water.

9 And they set out from Marah and came to ^wElim; at Elim there were twelve springs of water and seventy palm trees, and they camped there.

The Waters of Meribah

2 ^mNow there was no water for the congregation. ⁿAnd they assembled themselves together against Moses and against Aaron. 3 And the people ^oquarreled with Moses and said, “Would that we had perished ^pwhen our brothers perished before the Lord! 4 Why have you brought the assembly of the Lord into this wilderness, that we should die here, both we and our cattle? 5 And ^qwhy have you made us come up out of Egypt to bring us to this evil place? It is no place for grain or figs or vines or pomegranates, and there is no water to drink.” 6 Then Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the entrance of the tent of meeting and ^rfell on their faces. ^sAnd the glory of the Lord appeared to them, 7 and the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, 8 ^t“Take the staff, and assemble the congregation, you and Aaron your brother, and tell the rock before their eyes to yield its water. So ^uyou shall bring water out of the rock for them and give drink to the congregation and their cattle.” 9 And Moses took the staff ^vfrom before the Lord, as he commanded him.

Moses Strikes the Rock

10 Then Moses and Aaron gathered the assembly together before the rock, and he said to them, ^w“Hear now, you rebels: shall we bring water for you out of this rock?” 11 And Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice, ^uand water came out abundantly, and the congregation drank, and their livestock. 12 And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, “Because ^xyou did not believe in me, ^yto uphold me as holy in the eyes of the people of Israel, therefore you shall not bring this assembly into the land that I have given them.” 13 ^zThese are the waters of Meribah,¹ where the people of Israel quarreled with the Lord, and through them he showed himself holy.

Bitter Water Made Sweet

22 Then Moses made Israel set out from the Red Sea, and they went into the wilderness of ^aShur. They went three days in the wilderness and found no water. 23 When they came to ^bMarah, they could not drink the water of Marah because it was bitter; therefore it was named Marah.¹ 24 And the people ^cgrumbled against Moses, saying, “What shall we drink?” 25 And he ^dcried to the Lord, and the Lord showed him a log,² and he ^ethrew it into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the Lord³ made for them a statute and a rule, and there he ^ftested them,

25 You ^hshall serve the Lord your God, and ⁱhe¹ will bless your bread and your water, and ^jI will take sickness away from among you.

17 They refused to obey ^fand were not mindful of the wonders that you performed among them, but they stiffened their neck and appointed a leader to return to their slavery in Egypt.¹ But you are a God ready to forgive, ^ggracious and merciful, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, and did not forsake them. 18 Even ^hwhen they had made for themselves a golden² calf and said, ‘This is your God who brought you up out of Egypt,’ ⁱand had committed great blasphemies, 19 you ^jin your great mercies did not forsake them in the wilderness. ^kThe pillar of cloud to lead them in the way did not depart from them by day, ^knor the pillar of fire by night to light for them the way by which they should go. 20 ^lYou gave your good Spirit to instruct them ^mand did not withhold your manna from their mouth and gave them water for their thirst. 21 ⁿForty years you sustained them in the wilderness, and they lacked nothing. Their clothes did not wear out and their feet did not swell.

10 Jesus answered her, “If you knew the gift of God, and who it is that is saying to you, ‘Give me a drink,’ you would have asked him, and he would have given you ^hliving water.” 11 The woman said to him, “Sir, you have nothing to draw water with, and the well is deep. Where do you get that living water? 12 ⁱAre you greater than our father Jacob? ^jHe gave us the well and drank from it himself, as did his sons and his livestock.” 13 Jesus said to her, “Everyone who drinks of this water will be thirsty again, 14 but ^kwhoever drinks of the water that I will give him ^lwill never be thirsty again.¹ The water that I will give him will become ^min him a spring of water welling up to eternal life.”

Rivers of Living Water

37 ^yOn the last day of the feast, the great day, Jesus stood up and cried out, ^z“If anyone thirsts, let him ^acome to me and drink. 38 Whoever believes in me, ^bas¹ the Scripture has said, ^c‘Out of his heart will flow rivers of ^dliving water.’” 39 Now ^ethis he said about the Spirit, ^fwhom those who believed in him were to receive, ^gfor as yet the Spirit had not been ^hgiven, ⁱbecause Jesus was not yet glorified.

Jesus at the Feast of Booths

1 After this Jesus went about in Galilee. He would not go about in Judea, because ^pthe Jews¹ were seeking to kill him.

Warning Against Idolatry

1 For I do not want you to be unaware, brothers,¹ that our fathers were all under ^bthe cloud, and all ^cpassed through the sea, 2 and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, 3 and ^dall ate the same ^espiritual food, 4 and ^fall drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual Rock that followed them, and the Rock was Christ. 5 Nevertheless, with most of them God was not pleased, for ^gthey were overthrown² in the wilderness.

6 Now these things took place as examples for us, that we might not desire evil as ^hthey did. 7 ⁱDo not be idolaters ^jas some of them were; as it is written, ^k“The people sat down to eat and drink and rose up to play.” 8 ^lWe must not indulge in sexual immorality ^mas some of them did, and ⁿtwenty-three thousand fell in a single day. 9 We must not put Christ³ to the test, ^oas some of them did and ^pwere destroyed by serpents, 10 nor grumble, ^qas some of them did and ^rwere destroyed by ^sthe Destroyer. 11 Now these things happened to them as an example, but ^tthey were written down for our instruction, ^uon whom the end of the ages has come. 12 Therefore ^vlet anyone who thinks that he stands take heed lest he fall. 13 No temptation has overtaken you that is not common to man. ^wGod is faithful, and ^xhe will not let you be tempted beyond your ability, but with the temptation he will also provide the way of escape, that you may be able to endure it.