17:1 And all the community¹ of the Israelites traveled on their journey² from the Desert of Sin according to the instruction of Yahweh, and they pitched camp in Rephidim.³ Now⁴ there was no water for the people to drink.⁵ 17:2 So the people strove⁶ with Moses, and they said, “Give us water that we may drink.”⁷ Moses said to them, “Why do you strive⁸ with me? Why do you test⁹ Yahweh?” 17:3 But the people thirsted¹⁰ there for water, and they murmured against Moses, and said, “Why in the world¹¹ did you bring us up out of Egypt—to kill us and our sons and our cattle with thirst?”¹²

17:4 Then Moses cried out to Yahweh, saying, “What will I do with¹³ this people?—a little more¹⁴ and they will stone me.”¹⁵ 17:5 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Go over before the people,¹⁶ and take with you some of the elders of Israel; and your rod, with which you struck the Nile, take in your hand and go. 17:6 I will be standing¹⁷ before you there on¹⁸ the rock in Horeb, and you will strike¹⁹ the rock, and water will come out of it so that the people may drink.”²⁰ And Moses did so in plain view²¹ of the elders of Israel.

17:7 And he called the name of the place Massa, and Meribah, because of the striving of the Israelites, and because of their testing Yahweh,²² saying, “Is Yahweh in our midst or not?”

17:8 Amalek came²⁴ and attacked²⁵ Israel in Rephidim. 17:9 So Moses said to Joshua, “Choose some of our²⁶ men and go out, fight against Amalek. Tomorrow I will stand on top of the hill with the rod of God in my hand.”

17:10 And Joshua fought against Amalek just as Moses had instructed him;²⁷and Moses and Aaron and Hur went up to the top of the hill. 17:11 And whenever Moses would raise his hands,²⁸ then Israel prevailed; but whenever he would rest²⁹ his hands, then Amalek prevailed. 17:12 When³⁰ the hands of Moses became heavy,³¹ they took a stone and put it under him, and Aaron and Hur held up his hands, one on one side and one on the other,³² and so his hands were steady³³ until the going down of the sun. 17:13 So Joshua destroyed³⁴ Amalek and his army³⁵ with the edge³⁶ of the sword.

17:14 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Write this as a memorial in the³⁷ book, and rehearse³⁸ it in the ears of Joshua; for I will surely wipe out³⁹ the remembrance⁴⁰ of Amalek from under the heavens. 17:15 And Moses built an altar; and he called its name, Yahweh-Nissi:⁴¹ 17:16 for he said, “For a hand was lifted up to the throne of Yahweh⁴²—that Yahweh will have war with Amalek from generation to generation.⁴³