Numbers 12

World English Bible 85 include this book

1 Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married; for he had married a Cushite woman.

2 They said, “Has the LORD indeed spoken only with Moses? Hasn’t he spoken also with us?” And the LORD heard it.

3 Now the man Moses was very humble, more than all the men who were on the surface of the earth.

4 The LORD spoke suddenly to Moses, to Aaron, and to Miriam, “You three come out to the Tent of Meeting!” The three of them came out.

5 The LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the Tent, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forward.

6 He said, “Now hear my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, will make myself known to him in a vision. I will speak with him in a dream.

7 My servant Moses is not so. He is faithful in all my house.

8 With him, I will speak mouth to mouth, even plainly, and not in riddles; and he shall see the LORD’s form. Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?”

9 The LORD’s anger burned against them; and he departed.

10 The cloud departed from over the Tent; and behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow. Aaron looked at Miriam, and behold, she was leprous.

11 Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, please don’t count this sin against us, in which we have done foolishly, and in which we have sinned.

12 Let her not, I pray, be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother’s womb.”

13 Moses cried to the LORD, saying, “Heal her, God, I beg you!”

14 The LORD said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, shouldn’t she be ashamed seven days? Let her be shut up outside of the camp seven days, and after that she shall be brought in again.”

15 Miriam was shut up outside of the camp seven days, and the people didn’t travel until Miriam was brought in again.

16 Afterward the people traveled from Hazeroth, and encamped in the wilderness of Paran.

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1 place named in this chapter.

Where this was written

Sinai traditional Set in the wilderness journey.

When this was written

Traditions differ. Each position is shown rather than one asserted as settled.

Traditional: 1450 BC–1400 BC Moses
Jewish and Christian tradition ascribes the Torah to Moses, written during the wilderness period.
Critical: 950 BC–450 BC Multiple sources, compiled
Historical-critical scholarship sees the Torah as woven from several sources over centuries, reaching final form in the Persian period.

Elsewhere in the world

Events overlapping the period this book is dated to (1450 BC–450 BC).

1900 BC–1450 BC Minoan palace culture Greece
Crete supported a literate palace society trading across the Aegean long before mainland Greece.
1600 BC–1178 BC Hittite empire Anatolia
An Anatolian power rivalling Egypt, ended in the Bronze Age collapse.
1600 BC–1046 BC Shang dynasty oracle bones China
The earliest substantial Chinese writing, inscribed on bone and shell for divination.
1550 BC–1069 BC Egyptian New Kingdom Egypt
Egypt at its imperial height, ruling from Nubia to the Levant under Thutmose III, Akhenaten and Rameses II.
1200 BC–400 BC Olmec civilisation Mesoamerica
The earliest major Mesoamerican civilisation, known for colossal stone heads and an early calendar.
1200 BC–600 BC Zoroaster teaches in Persia Persia
Founder of Zoroastrianism, whose dating is disputed by as much as six centuries. His teaching on a cosmic struggle between good and evil later touched Jewish and Christian thought.
1200 BC–1000 BC Iron working spreads in the Levant Levant
Iron gradually displaced bronze for tools and weapons across the eastern Mediterranean.
1200 BC–1150 BC Late Bronze Age collapse Mediterranean
Within roughly two generations most eastern Mediterranean states fell; cities were destroyed, trade networks broke and literacy contracted sharply.

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