Exodus Chapter 17 verse 2 Holy Bible
Wherefore the people stove with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why strive ye with me? Wherefore do ye tempt Jehovah?
read chapter 17 in ASV
So the people were angry with Moses, and said, Give us water for drinking. And Moses said, Why are you angry with me? and why do you put God to the test?
read chapter 17 in BBE
And the people contended with Moses, and said, Give us water, that we may drink! And Moses said to them, Why do ye dispute with me? Why do ye tempt Jehovah?
read chapter 17 in DARBY
Wherefore the people did chide with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said unto them, Why chide ye with me? wherefore do ye tempt the LORD?
read chapter 17 in KJV
Wherefore the people contended with Moses, and said, Give us water that we may drink. And Moses said to them, Why chide you with me? why do ye tempt the LORD?
read chapter 17 in WBT
Therefore the people quarreled with Moses, and said, "Give us water to drink." Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?"
read chapter 17 in WEB
and the people strive with Moses, and say, `Give us water, and we drink.' And Moses saith to them, `What? -- ye strive with me, what? -- ye try Jehovah?'
read chapter 17 in YLT
Pulpit Commentary
Pulpit CommentaryVerse 2. - The people did chide. I.e. "quarrelled," made open murmurs and complaint - as before frequently (Exodus 14:11, 12; Exodus 15:24; Exodus 16:2, 3). Give us water. As Moses had already given them flesh (the quails) and bread (the manna), so it perhaps seemed to the people easy that he should give them such a common thing as water. Stanley notices (p. 70) that the wadys suggest the idea of water, and make its absence the more intolerable - they are "exactly like rivers," with "torrent bed, and banks, and clefts in the rock for tributary streams, and at times even rushes and shrubs fringing their course" - signs of "water, water everywhere, yet not a drop to drink." Wherefore do ye tempt the Lord? To "tempt the Lord" is to try his patience by want of faith, to arouse his anger, to provoke him to punish us. It was the special sin of the Israelites during the whole period of their sojourn in the wilderness. They "tempted and provoked the most high God" (Psalm 78:56); "provoked him to anger with their inventions" (Psalm 106:29), "murmured in their tents" (ib, 25), "provoked him at the sea" (ib, 7), "tempted him in the desert" (ib, 14). God's long-suffering, notwithstanding all, is simply amazing!
Ellicott's Commentary
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers(2) The people did chide.--Water is scanty along the route by which we have supposed Rephidim to have been reached. Such a supply as the people may have brought with them from Elim would have been exhausted. They would have looked forward to Rephidim both for their immediate necessity and for replenishing their water-skins. They would be suffering both from thirst and disappointment. The needs of their children and their cattle (Exodus 17:3) would be an aggravation of their pain. They would see no hope in the future. Under the circumstances we cannot be surprised at their "chiding." Nothing but a very lively faith, or an utter resignation to the will of God, could have made a people patient and submissive in such an extremity.Give us water.--It was not faith that spoke in these words, but wrath. They had no belief that Moses could give them water, and "were almost ready to stone" him (Exodus 17:4).
