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This was the water of Meribah, because the children of Israel contended with the Lord, and He was hallowed among them.
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Now Moses sent messengers from Kadesh to the king of Edom. "Thus says your brother Israel: 'You know all the hardship that has befallen us,
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how our fathers went down to Egypt, and we dwelt in Egypt a long time, and the Egyptians afflicted us and our fathers.
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When we cried out to the Lord, He heard our voice and sent the Angel and brought us up out of Egypt; now here we are in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your border.
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Please let us pass through your country. We will not pass through fields or vineyards, nor will we drink water from wells; we will go along the King's Highway; we will not turn aside to the right hand or to the left until we have passed through your territory.' "
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Then Edom said to him, "You shall not pass through my land, lest I come out against you with the sword."
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So the children of Israel said to him, "We will go by the Highway, and if I or my livestock drink any of your water, then I will pay for it; let me only pass through on foot, nothing more."
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Then he said, "You shall not pass through." So Edom came out against them with many men and with a strong hand.
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Thus Edom refused to give Israel passage through his territory; so Israel turned away from him.
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Then the children of Israel, the whole congregation, journeyed from Kadesh and came to Mount Hor.
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And the Lord spoke to Moses and Aaron in Mount Hor by the border of the land of Edom, saying:
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"Aaron shall be gathered to his people, for he shall not enter the land which I have given to the children of Israel, because you rebelled against My word at the water of Meribah.
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Take Aaron and Eleazar his son, and bring them up to Mount Hor;
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and strip Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; for Aaron shall be gathered to his people and die there."
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So Moses did just as the Lord commanded, and they went up to Mount Hor in the sight of all the congregation.
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Moses stripped Aaron of his garments and put them on Eleazar his son; and Aaron died there on the top of the mountain. Then Moses and Eleazar came down from the mountain.
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Now when all the congregation saw that Aaron was dead, all the house of Israel mourned for Aaron thirty days.