Translations
KJVPrimary
King James VersionThis is the water of Meribah; because the children of Israel strove with the LORD, and he was sanctified in them.
F.O.G.Secondary
The F.O.GThese are the Waters of Merivah, where the children of Yisra'el quarrelled with YHWH—and through them He showed Himself holy.
F.O.G.M.
F.O.G MessageThese became the Waters of Meribah—where the Israelites contended with Yahweh, and where, even through the failure, He showed Himself holy.
BSB
Berean Standard BibleThese were the waters of Meribah, where the Israelites quarreled with the LORD, and He showed His holiness among them.
Footnotes
*Merivah* (מְרִיבָה) = 'contention' or 'strife,' permanently embedding the quarrel into the geography. Cf. the earlier Merivah at Horeb (Exod. 17:7), where the same pattern appears, making this a second memorial to faithlessness. The closing phrase *vayikadesh bam* (וַיִּקָּדֵשׁ בָּם) = 'He showed Himself holy through them' is beautifully ambiguous: did YHWH's holiness shine through the miracle despite Moshe's failure, or was the judgment itself the act of holiness? Both are true. FOG preserves the Hebrew name *Merivah*; FOG Message adds 'even through the failure' to surface the theological tension inherent in the phrase.
