Open English Translation EXO Chapter 17

17 Then all the Israelis moved on from Siyn in the wilderness, travelling following Yahweh’s instructions. They camped at Refidim but there was no water for the people to drink.[ref] 2 So the people argued with Mosheh again, saying, “Give us water to drink!”

“Why are you all quarreling with me?” Mosheh answered. “Why are you all testing Yahweh?”

3 But the people were very thirsty there and they murmured against Mosheh, so he demanded, “Is this why you brought us out of Egypt? To kill me and my sons and my cattle with thirst?” ???

4 Mosheh cried out to Yahweh, asking, “What should I do for these people? It won’t take much more and they’ll stone me.”

5 “Walk on ahead of the people,” Yahweh told Mosheh, “and take some of the Israeli elders with you, and your staff—the one which you struck the river with. Take it in your hand and go. 6 Watch me. I will stand in front of you there on the rock at Horeb (Mt. Sinai). Then you will strike the rock and water will come out of it, and the people will drink.” So Mosheh did that while the Israeli elders watched.

7 Mosheh named that place both ‘Massah’ (which means ‘testing’) and ‘Meribah’ (which means ‘complaining’), because of the conflict among the Israelis and because of how they tested of Yahweh by saying, ‘Is Yahweh among us or not?’

8 Then the Amalek army came and attacked Israel at Refidim, 9 and Mosheh instructed Yehoshua (Joshua), “Choose men for us and go out and fight with Amalek. Tomorrow I’ll be stationed on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.” 10 So Yehoshua prepared to fight Amalek as Mosheh had told him, and Mosheh, Aharon, and Hur climbed up to the top of the hill. 11 And so it happened that when Mosheh raised his arm, then Israel would be winning, but when he lowered his arm, then Amalek would start winning. 12 However, Mosheh’s arms got tired, so they got a large stone and sat him on it, and Aharon and Hur stood on each side of him holding up his arms, and holding him steady in that position until the sun went down. 13 So this was how Yehoshua defeated Amalek and his army with their swords. 14 Then Yahweh told Mosheh, “Write this event in the book and read it aloud to Yehoshua, because I will certainly blot out the memory of Amalek from off the earth.”[ref] 15 Then Mosheh built an altar and he named it ‘Yahweh-nissi’ (which means ‘Yahweh is my banner’), 16 saying, “Because they battled against Yah’s throne, then Yahweh will battle against Amalek from generation to generation.”