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Numbers Chapter 12

Mary and Aaron murmur against Moses, whom God praises above other prophets. Mary being struck with leprosy, Aaron confesses his fault. Moses prays for her, and after seven days' separation from the camp, she is restored.

English (Douay-Rheims)

1 And Mary and Aaron spoke against Moses, because of his wife the Ethiopian, Ethiopian... Sephora the wife of Moses was of Madian, which bordered upon the land of Chus or Ethiopia: where note, that the Ethiopia here spoken of is not that of Africa but that of Arabia. 2 And they said: Hath the Lord spoken by Moses only? Hath he not also spoken to us in like manner? And when the Lord heard this, 3 (For Moses was a man exceeding meek above all men that dwelt upon earth) Exceeding meek... Moses being the meekest of men, would not contend for himself; therefore, God inspired him to write here his own defence: and the Holy Spirit, whose dictate he wrote, obliged him to declare the truth, though it was so much to his own praise. 4 Immediately he spoke to him, and to Aaron and Mary: Come out you three only to the tabernacle of the covenant. And when they were come out, 5 The Lord came down in a pillar of the cloud, and stood in the entry of the tabernacle calling to Aaron and Mary. And when they were come, 6 He said to them: Hear my words: if there be among you a prophet of the Lord, I will appear to him in a vision, or I will speak to him in a dream. 7 But it is not so with my servant Moses who is most faithful in all my house: 8 For I speak to him mouth to mouth: and plainly, and not by riddles and figures doth he see the Lord. Why then were you not afraid to speak ill of my servant Moses?

9 And being angry with them he went away: 10 The cloud also that was over the tabernacle departed: and behold Mary appeared white as snow with a leprosy. And when Aaron had looked on her, and saw her all covered with leprosy, 11 He said to Moses: I beseech thee, my lord, lay not upon us this sin, which we have foolishly committed: 12 Let her not be as one dead, and as an abortive that is cast forth from the mother's womb. Lo, now one half of her flesh is consumed with the leprosy. 13 And Moses cried to the Lord, saying O God, I beseech thee heal her. 14 And the Lord answered him: If her father had spitten upon her face, ought she not to have been ashamed for seven days at least? Let her be separated seven days without the camp, and afterwards she shall be called again. 15 Mary therefore was put out of the camp seven days: and the people moved not from that place until Mary was called again.

Old Testament first published 1609 by the English College at Douay
New Testament first published 1582 by the English College at Rheims
Revised and Annotated 1749 by Bishop Richard Challoner
Imprimatur. +James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, September 1, 1899

Latin (Clementine Vulgate)

1 Locutaque est Maria et Aaron contra Moysen propter uxorem ejus Æthiopissam, 2 et dixerunt: Num per solum Moysen locutus est Dominus? nonne et nobis similiter est locutus? Quod cum audisset Dominus 3 (erat enim Moyses vir mitissimus super omnes homines qui morabantur in terra), 4 statim locutus est ad eum, et ad Aaron et Mariam: Egredimini vos tantum tres ad tabernaculum fœderis. Cumque fuissent egressi, 5 descendit Dominus in columna nubis, et stetit in introitu tabernaculi, vocans Aaron et Mariam. Qui cum issent, 6 dixit ad eos: Audite sermones meos: si quis fuerit inter vos propheta Domini, in visione apparebo ei, vel per somnium loquar ad illum. 7 At non talis servus meus Moyses, qui in omni domo mea fidelissimus est: 8 ore enim ad os loquor ei: et palam, et non per ænigmata et figuras Dominum videt. Quare ergo non timuistis detrahere servo meo Moysi?

9 Iratusque contra eos, abiit: 10 nubes quoque recessit quæ erat super tabernaculum: et ecce Maria apparuit candens lepra quasi nix. Cumque respexisset eam Aaron, et vidisset perfusam lepra, 11 ait ad Moysen: Obsecro, domine mi, ne imponas nobis hoc peccatum quod stulte commisimus, 12 ne fiat hæc quasi mortua, et ut abortivum quod projicitur de vulva matris suæ: ecce jam medium carnis ejus devoratum est a lepra. 13 Clamavitque Moyses ad Dominum, dicens: Deus, obsecro, sana eam. 14 Cui respondit Dominus: Si pater ejus spuisset in faciem illius, nonne debuerat saltem septem diebus rubore suffundi? separetur septem diebus extra castra, et postea revocabitur. 15 Exclusa est itaque Maria extra castra septem diebus: et populus non est motus de loco illo, donec revocata est Maria.

Transcribed as part of the Clementine Vulgate Project
Please notify the original transcriber (little.mouth@soon.com) of any errors in this Latin edition