CHAPTER 12
Then Miriam
and Aaron
criticized
Moses
because of
the Cushite
woman
he had married,
for
he had taken
a Cushite
wife.
“Does the LORD
speak
only
through Moses?”
they said.
“Does He not
also
speak
through us?”
And the LORD
heard this.
And suddenly
the LORD
said
to
Moses,
Aaron,
and Miriam,
“You three,
come out
to
the Tent
of Meeting.”
So the three
went out,
and the LORD
came down
in a pillar
of cloud,
stood
at the entrance
to the Tent,
and summoned
Aaron
and Miriam.
When both
of them had stepped forward,
He said,
“Hear
now
My words:
If
there is
a prophet among you,
I, the LORD,
will reveal Myself
to him
in a vision,
I will speak
to him
in a dream;
I speak
with him
face
to
face,
clearly
and not
in riddles;
he sees
the form
of the LORD.
Why then
were you unafraid
to speak
against My servant
Moses?”
As the cloud
lifted
from above
the Tent,
suddenly
Miriam
became leprous,
white as snow.
Aaron
turned
toward
her,
saw that
she was leprous,
and said
to
Moses,
“My lord,
please
do not
hold
against us
this sin
we have so foolishly
committed.
Please
do not
let her be
like a stillborn infant
whose
flesh
is half
consumed
when he comes out
of his mother’s
womb.”
But the LORD
answered
Moses,
“If her father
had but
spit
in her face,
would she not
have been in disgrace
for seven
days?
Let her be confined
outside
the camp
for seven
days;
after that
she may be brought back in.”
So Miriam
was confined
outside
the camp
for seven
days,
and the people
did not
move on
until
she
was brought in again.