Bible Strands
Numbers 27:14
for when the congregation contended in the Wilderness of Zin, both of you rebelled against My command to show My holiness in their sight regarding the waters.” Those were the waters of Meribah in Kadesh, in the Wilderness of Zin.
Berean Standard Bible
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Study note
Setting — God addresses Moses, recalling his and Aaron’s past disobedience at the Wilderness of Zin as He concludes the succession instructions following Aaron’s death. The words — The text highlights מְרִיתֶ֨ם (meritem, “you rebelled against”) and לְ/הַקְדִּישֵׁ֥/נִי (le/hakdîšênî, “to treat as holy/me”), marking the failure to display God’s holiness before the congregation. The thread — The passage explicitly names the location as the waters of Meribah in Kadesh (Numbers 27:14) and links the incident to Israel’s earlier testing (Exodus 17:7) and God’s decree that Moses would not enter the land (Deuteronomy 1:37). Why it lands — The verse records God’s stated reason for excluding Moses and Aaron from the Promised Land: their rebellion obstructed the demonstration of His holiness to the people.
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
For ye rebelled against my commandment in the desert of Zin, in the strife of the congregation, to sanctify me at the water before their eyes: that is the water of Meribah in Kadesh in the wilderness of Zin.
Cross-references
- Deuteronomy 1:37 The LORD was also angry with me on your account, and He said, “Not even you shall enter the land.
- 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?”
- Numbers 20:8 “Take the staff and assemble the congregation. You and your brother Aaron are to speak to the rock while they watch, and it will pour out its water. You will bring out water from the rock and provide drink for the congregation and their livestock.”
- 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.
- Numbers 20:1 In the first month, the whole congregation of Israel entered the Wilderness of Zin and stayed in Kadesh. There Miriam died and was buried.
- 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.