The Israelites travelled to a place where there
was no water. The people went to Moses and
said, “We wish we would have died with our
brothers under God’s hand. You brought us here
with many promises, but we don’t see any farms,
fig trees, or vineyards. On top of that, there’s no
water for us or our livestock.”
The Lord said to Moses, “Gather the people
together and stand in front of them with your staff.
Speak to the rock, and it will give you water. There
will be enough for the people and their livestock.”
So Moses stood in front of the people. He
said, “You’re a bunch of rebels. Do I have to
provide you water from this rock?” With that, he
hit the rock two times with his staff. Water came
gushing out, and everyone had enough.
But the Lord wasn’t pleased with Moses
and Aaron. He said, “You didn’t trust my power.
These people saw you disrespect my command.
Therefore, you won’t take these people into the
land I promised them.”
As the people of Israel moved on, they came
to the border of Edom. Moses sent a message
to their king asking permission to pass through
their land. He assured the king that they wouldn’t
disturb anything, and they would pay for any
water they drank.
The king refused to let them pass through the
land. He even sent his army to their borders and
threatened war if the Israelites crossed into their
land. So Moses turned away.
Shortly after that, the Lord said to Moses,
“Aaron is about to die. Therefore take the high
priest’s garments off of him and put them on
Eleazar, his son.”
Moses did this, and Aaron died soon
afterwards. The people of Israel mourned his
death for thirty days.
As the Israelites moved around Edom, the
people started to complain again. They said, “We
didn’t have to come here to die. We could’ve
done that in Egypt. We have no water, and we
hate this awful food!”
So the Lord sent poisonous snakes into the
camp. People were bitten, and many died. They
rushed to Moses and said, “We’ve sinned! We
shouldn’t have spoken against you and the Lord.
Please talk to God and ask him to take away
these snakes.” So Moses prayed for the people.
The Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake out
of bronze and put it on a pole. People will be
healed from their snake bites if they look at the
bronze snake.”
As the people of Israel traveled they came to
the border of the Amorites. They sent a message
to the king asking if they could travel through his
land. They assured him that they would not take
anything and would do no harm.
The king of the Amorites refused. Instead,
he took his army and attacked Israel. So the
people of Israel fought them and totally defeated
them. They took over all their cities and lived in
them. They controlled all the land right up to the
Ammonite border.

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