Bible Strands
Numbers 20:13
These were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD, and He showed His holiness among them.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — The narrator identifies the location as the waters of Meribah immediately after God pronounces that Moses and Aaron will not lead the assembly into the promised land. This statement concludes the Kadesh incident and precedes Moses's diplomatic message to Edom.
The words — The Hebrew word מְרִיבָה (Meribah) carries the literal sense of "quarreling" or "contention," directly naming the site where the people's dispute with God is recorded. The verb רָב (they quarreled) confirms the location's etymological origin in the conflict itself.
The thread — The location functions as a recurring biblical marker for wilderness testing, appearing in Exodus 17:7, Psalm 95:8, and Deuteronomy 33:8. These passages consistently associate Meribah with the Israelites' pattern of challenging divine authority and demanding proof of God's presence.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to accept that human rebellion and divine self-revelation occur in the same moment. It demands a sober recognition that God's holiness is displayed precisely within the context of human failure, not apart from it.
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
This is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the Lord, and he was sanctified in them.
Cross-references
- 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?”
- Psalms 95:8 do not harden your hearts as you did at Meribah, in the day at Massah in the wilderness,
- Deuteronomy 33:8 Concerning Levi he said: “Give Your Thummim to Levi and Your Urim to Your godly one, whom You tested at Massah and contested at the waters of Meribah.
- Deuteronomy 32:51 For at the waters of Meribah-kadesh in the Wilderness of Zin, both of you broke faith with Me among the Israelites by failing to treat Me as holy in their presence.
- Psalms 106:32 At the waters of Meribah they angered the LORD, and trouble came to Moses because of them.
- Isaiah 5:16 But the LORD of Hosts will be exalted by His justice, and the holy God will show Himself holy in righteousness.
- Ezekiel 20:41 When I bring you from the peoples and gather you from the lands to which you have been scattered, I will accept you as a pleasing aroma. And I will show My holiness through you in the sight of the nations.
- Ezekiel 36:23 I will show the holiness of My great name, which has been profaned among the nations—the name you have profaned among them. Then the nations will know that I am the LORD, declares the Lord GOD, when I show My holiness in you before their eyes.
- Ezekiel 38:16 You will advance against My people Israel like a cloud covering the land. It will happen in the latter days, O Gog, that I will bring you against My land, so that the nations may know Me when I show Myself holy in you before their eyes.