Numbers 12

1 Then Miriam and Aaron criticized Moses because of the Cushite woman he had married, for he had taken a Cushite wife. 2 “ Does the LORD speak only through Moses?” they said. “ Does He not also speak through us?” And the LORD heard this. 3 Now Moses was a very humble man, more so than any man on the face of the earth. 4 And suddenly the LORD said to Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “ You three, come out to the Tent of Meeting.” So the three went out, 5 and the LORD came down in a pillar of cloud, stood at the entrance to the Tent, and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When both of them had stepped forward, 6 He said, “ Hear now My words: If there is a prophet among you, I, the LORD, will reveal Myself to him in a vision; I will speak to him in a dream. 7 But this is not so with My servant Moses; he is faithful in all My house. 8 I speak with him face to face, clearly and not in riddles; he sees the form of the LORD. Why then were you unafraid to speak against My servant Moses?” 9 So the anger of the LORD burned against them, and He departed. 10 As the cloud lifted from above the Tent, suddenly Miriam became leprous, white as snow. Aaron turned toward her, saw that she was leprous, 11 and said to Moses, “ My lord, please do not hold against us this sin we have so foolishly committed. 12 Please do not let her be like a stillborn infant whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out of his mother ’s womb.” 13 So Moses cried out to the LORD, “ O God, please heal her!” 14 But the LORD answered Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Let her be confined outside the camp for seven days; after that she may be brought back in.” 15 So Miriam was confined outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until she was brought in again. 16 After that, the people set out from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.

✦ What the text says

## Summary Miriam and Aaron criticize Moses over his Cushite wife and challenge his unique prophetic authority; YHWH descends, defends Moses as uniquely faithful, and speaks to him "face to face." Miriam is struck with a skin condition compared to snow, Aaron pleads for her, Moses intercedes, and YHWH prescribes a seven-day exclusion before the group resumes travel. ## Key words - *va.te.daBer* ("she spoke", H1696G) — the verb is feminine singular though it has two grammatical subjects (Miriam and Aaron); the form shows Miriam as the grammatical initiator of the speech even though Aaron is named alongside her. - *'anav* ("humble", H6035) — masculine singular adjective describing Moses, intensified by *me'od* ("very", H3966) and the comparative *mi-kol ha-'adam* ("more than every person", H3605/H0120), placing him above all humans "on the surface of the ground." - *peh 'el peh* ("mouth to mouth", H6310G) — a doubled noun construction (no verb) used adverbially to describe the manner of divine speech to Moses, contrasted in the same verse with *chidot* ("riddles", H2420) and *machazeh* ("vision", H4759A/H4758) used for other prophets. - *me.tzo.Ra'at* ("leprous/afflicted", H6879) — pual passive participle, feminine singular, marking Miriam as the one acted upon by the condition, paired with the simile *ka.Shaleg* ("like the snow", H7950). - *ti.sa.Ger* ("she will be shut up", H5462) — niphal (passive) imperfect, showing Miriam as the object of an externally imposed confinement rather than an agent, matching the passive construction of *te.'aSef* ("she will be received/gathered", H0622). ## What the text says The chapter opens with a single feminine verb (*te.daBer*) governing two subjects, Miriam and Aaron, which grammatically foregrounds Miriam despite the plural subject that follows in the sentence. The rhetorical questions in verse 2 ("has he spoken only *be-Mosheh*", H4872) use the interrogative particle *ha* twice, framing the challenge as a comparison between Moses and "us" (*banu*, H9035 suffix on H1696G), setting up the rebuttal that follows. Verses 3 and 7–8 construct a contrast between how YHWH speaks to ordinary prophets (*ba-mar'ah*, "by vision", H4759A; *ba-chalom*, "by dream", H2472) and how he speaks to Moses (*peh 'el peh*, "mouth to mouth", H6310G doubled construction with no intervening verb, functioning adverbially). The description of Moses as *'anav me'od* uses an absolute superlative construction (*mi-kol ha-'adam*, "more than every person") that grammatically has no upper limit within the clause. Miriam's punishment is expressed entirely in passive/niphal forms (*me.tzo.Ra'at*, *ti.sa.Ger*, *te.'aSef*), which linguistically remove her as an active subject throughout verses 10–15, in contrast to the active qal verbs used for Aaron's turning (*va.Yifen*) and speaking (*va.Yomer*), and for Moses's crying out (*va.yitz.'ak*). ## Differences between versions The LXX renders *kushit* ("Cushite", H3569G) as *Αἰθιόπισσαν* ("Ethiopian woman"), a geographic/ethnic equivalence rather than a literal transliteration. The Vulgate follows the LXX with *Æthiopissam*. In verse 8, the Hebrew *temunat YHWH yabbit* ("he sees the form of YHWH") is rendered by the LXX as *τὴν δόξαν Κυρίου εἶδεν* ("he saw the glory of the Lord"), substituting "glory" for "form/likeness."

This explanation describes the text using linguistic data; it adds no doctrine or confessional interpretation.