1 All 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 ^vno water for the people to drink. 2 ^wTherefore the people ^xquarreled with Moses and said, “Give us water to ^ydrink.” And Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you ^ztest the Lord?” 3 But the people thirsted there for water, and the people ^agrumbled against Moses and said, ^b“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 ^cto 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 ^dwith which you struck the Nile, and go. 6 ^eBehold, I will stand before you there on the rock at Horeb, and you shall strike the rock, and ^fwater 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 Massah¹ and Meribah,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?”