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whole Israelite community set out from the Wilderness of Sin, travelling from place to place as the Lord commanded. They camped at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink. 2 So the people quarrelled with Moses, and said, “Give us water to drink.”
Moses said to them, “Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you put the Lord to the test?”
3 But the people thirsted for water there, and they grumbled against Moses. They said, “Why did you bring us up out of Egypt to kill us and our children and livestock with thirst?”
4 Then Moses cried out to the Lord, “What am I to do with these people? They are almost ready to stone me.”
5 The Lord answered Moses, “Go on ahead of the people. Take some of the elders of Israel with you and take in your hand the staff you struck the Nile with, and go. 6 Behold, I will stand there before you by the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink.” Moses did this in the sight of the elders of Israel. 7 He named the place Massah, and Meribah, because the Israelites quarrelled, and because they tested the Lord, saying, “Is the Lord among us or not?”
8 The Amalekites came and attacked Israel at Rephidim. 9 Moses said to Joshua “Select some men for us and go out to fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand.”
10 Joshua did as Moses had told him, and fought against the Amalekites, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 11 As long as Moses held up his hands, Israel prevailed, but whenever he lowered his hands, Amalek prevailed. 12 But Moses’ hands grew weary, so they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Then Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side, and the other on the other side; so that his hands were steady until the sun went down. 13 So Joshua defeated the Amalekite army with the sword.
14 Then the Lord said to Moses, “Write this on a scroll as a memorial and make sure Joshua hears it, because I am going to totally blot out the memory of Amalek from under heaven.”
15 Moses built an altar and named it, The Lord Is My Banner. 16 He said, “Because the Lord has sworn: The Lord will be at war with Amalek from generation to generation.”