Bible Strands
Exodus 17:7
He named the place Massah and Meribah because the Israelites quarreled, and because they tested the LORD, saying, “Is the LORD among us or not?”
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — Moses names a location after the Israelites quarrel over water and test God by asking if He is present among them. This occurs immediately after he strikes the rock at Horeb to provide drinking water for the people.
The words — The text uses מַסָּ֖ה (Massah) and וּ/מְרִיבָ֑ה (Meribah), literally meaning "testing" and "quarreling," to label the site. These terms directly reflect the Israelites' dispute and their challenge to God's presence.
The thread — This naming event is recalled in Psalms 81:7 and Psalms 95:8 as a warning against hardening hearts during wilderness testing. Numbers 20:13 later references the same location as the waters of Meribah where God's holiness was displayed amid the people's quarrel.
Why it lands — The verse demands a reader examine whether their own trials produce faith or doubt. It requires acknowledging God's presence as a matter of recorded action rather than subjective feeling.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
And he called the name of the place Massah, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted the Lord, saying, Is the Lord among us, or not?
Cross-references
- Psalms 81:7 You called out in distress, and I rescued you; I answered you from the cloud of thunder; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
- Numbers 20:13 These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD, and He showed His holiness among them.
- Psalms 95:8 do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, in the day at Massah in the wilderness,
- Deuteronomy 9:22 You continued to provoke the LORD at Taberah, at Massah, and at Kibroth-hattaavah.
- Exodus 17:2 So the people contended with Moses, “Give us water to drink.” “Why do you contend with me?” Moses replied. “Why do you test the LORD?”
- Hebrews 3:8 do not harden your hearts, as you did in the rebellion, in the day of testing in the wilderness,
- Numbers 20:24 “Aaron will be gathered to his people; he will not enter the land that I have given the Israelites, because both of you rebelled against My command at the waters of Meribah.
- Acts 7:37 This is the same Moses who told the Israelites, ‘God will raise up for you a prophet like me from among your brothers.’
- Exodus 34:9 “O Lord,” he said, “if I have indeed found favor in Your sight, my Lord, please go with us. Although this is a stiff-necked people, forgive our iniquity and sin, and take us as Your inheritance.”
- Deuteronomy 31:17 On that day My anger will burn against them, and I will abandon them and hide My face from them, so that they will be consumed, and many troubles and afflictions will befall them. On that day they will say, ‘Have not these disasters come upon us because our God is no longer with us?’