The Murmuring of Miriam and Aaron

¹Now ^[a]Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the ^[b]Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman); ² and they said, “Has the Lord really spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken also through us?” And the Lord heard it. ³ (^[c]Now the man Moses was very humble (gentle, kind, devoid of self-righteousness), more than any man who was on the face of the earth.) ⁴ Suddenly the Lord said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the Tent of Meeting (tabernacle).” And the three of them came out. ⁵ The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the doorway of the tabernacle, and He called Aaron and Miriam, and they came forward. ⁶ And He said,

⁹ And the anger of the Lord was kindled against Miriam and Aaron, and He departed. ¹⁰ But when the cloud had withdrawn from over the tent, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. And Aaron turned and looked at Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous. ¹¹ Then Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, I plead with you, do not account this sin to us, in which we have acted foolishly and in which we have sinned. ¹² Oh, do not let her be like one dead, already half decomposed when he comes from his mother’s womb.” ¹³ So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “Heal her please, O God, I plead with You!” ¹⁴ But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but ^[d]spit in her face, would she not bear her shame for seven days? Let her be shut up outside the camp for seven days, and afterward she may return.” ¹⁵ So Miriam was shut up outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was brought in again [and declared ceremonially clean from her leprosy].

¹⁶ Afterward the people moved on from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.