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Then Yahweh commanded all the Israelites to travel from the wilderness of Sin and camp at a place called Rephidim, and they did. However, there was no water there for the people to drink. 2 So the people complained to Moses again, saying, “Give us water to drink!” Moses replied to them, “You should not quarrel with me! You should not test Yahweh!”
3 But the people were very thirsty, and they continued to complain to Moses. They were saying, “You only brought us out here to kill us and our children and cattle by not letting us have any water to drink!”
4 So Moses prayed to Yahweh. He said, “How shall I deal with these people? They are almost ready {to kill me} by throwing stones {at me}!”
5 Yahweh said to Moses, “Lead the people and walk in front of them. Take some of the elders of the Israelite people with you. Carry in your hand the staff you used to strike the Nile River. 6 Watch me! I will stand in front of you on top of a large rock at the foot of Mount Sinai. Strike the rock with your stick. When you do that, water for the people to drink will flow out of the rock.” Moses did what God had said, and the elders saw it happen. 7 Moses named that place both Masseh (because the Israelites tested Yahweh by questioning if he was really able to help them or not) and Meribah (because they were complaining all the time to him).
8 Then the people of Amalek came and fought against the Israelite people at Rephidim. 9 Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some men to go out and fight against the people of Amalek tomorrow. I will stand on the top of the hill, holding the staff that God told me to carry.” 10 So Joshua obeyed Moses. He {took some men} to fight against the people of Amalek.
{While they were fighting,} Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill {so that they could see the whole battle area}. 11 Then this happened: Whenever Moses lifted up his arms, the Israelite men started to win the battle; whenever he lowered his arms, the Amalekite army started to win. 12 But Moses’ arms became tired. So Aaron and Hur brought a large stone for him to sit on. While he was sitting on it, those two held up his arms, one man on either side of him. In that way, they kept his arms lifted up until the sun went down. 13 In this way Joshua and the men with him defeated the Amalekite king and his army in battle.
14 Then Yahweh said to Moses, “Write an account of this battle and then read it to Joshua. Also write that I will so completely destroy the people of Amalek that no one in the world will remember who they were.” 15 Then Moses built a stone altar there and named it “Yahweh is my flag.” 16 He said, “Because they fought against him, Yahweh will fight against the people of Amalek forever!”