Then Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married, for he had taken a Cushite wife.
Parallel translations
- WEB Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married; for he had married a Cushite woman.
- KJV And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married: for he had married an Ethiopian woman.
- NKJV Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an Ethiopian woman.
- NASB Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a Cushite woman);
- NLT While they were at Hazeroth, Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because he had married a Cushite woman.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Miriam and Aaron criticize Moses over his Cushite wife. Personal grievance masks a deeper challenge to Moses' unique authority.
Overview
Moses' own siblings speak against him, ostensibly because of his Cushite wife. The marriage objection appears to be a pretext for jealousy over Moses' leadership, as the next verse reveals. The episode warns against opposing those God has appointed, and against letting envy disguise itself as principle.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 16
- Exod 2:21Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.
- Gen 26:34–35When Esau was forty years old, he took as his wives Judith daughter of Beeri the Hittite and Basemath daughter of Elon the Hittite.
- Gen 27:46Then Rebekah said to Isaac, “I am weary of my life because of these Hittite women. If Jacob takes a Hittite wife from among them, what good is my life?”
- Gen 24:37My master made me swear an oath and said, ‘You shall not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites in whose land I dwell,
- Matt 10:36A man’s enemies will be the members of his own household.’
- Gen 24:3and I will have you swear by the LORD, the God of heaven and the God of earth, that you will not take a wife for my son from the daughters of the Canaanites among whom I am dwelling,
- John 7:5For even His own brothers did not believe in Him.
- Gen 28:6–9Now Esau learned that Isaac had blessed Jacob and sent him to Paddan-aram to take a wife there, commanding him, “Do not marry a Canaanite woman,”
- Gen 34:14–15“We cannot do such a thing,” they said. “To give our sister to an uncircumcised man would be a disgrace to us.
- Gal 4:16Have I now become your enemy by telling you the truth?
- Gen 41:45Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-paneah, and he gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph took charge of all the land of Egypt.
- Lev 21:14He is not to marry a widow, a divorced woman, or one defiled by prostitution. He is to marry a virgin from his own people,
- Exod 34:16And when you take some of their daughters as brides for your sons, their daughters will prostitute themselves to their gods and cause your sons to do the same.
- John 15:20Remember the word that I spoke to you: ‘No servant is greater than his master.’ If they persecuted Me, they will persecute you as well; if they kept My word, they will keep yours as well.
- Matt 12:48But Jesus replied, “Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?”
- Exod 2:16Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters, and they came to draw water and fill the troughs to water their father’s flock.
Themes, concepts, people & topics
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Christ at the center
In the wilderness Christ is the water from the rock, the bronze serpent lifted up that the dying might look and live (John 3:14), and the star and scepter that Balaam saw rising out of Jacob.
How Numbers 12:1 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.