A reading from the Book of Numbers.

Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Kushite woman whom he had married,

for he had married a Kushite woman, and they said,

Has the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses?

Has he not spoken through us also?

And the Lord heard it.

Now the man Moses was very meek, more than all people who

were on the face of the earth. And suddenly, the Lord said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam,

Come out, you three, to the tent of meeting. And the three of them came out. And the Lord came down in a

pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent and called Aaron and Miriam,

and they both came forward. And he said,

"'Here my words. If there is a prophet among you, I, the Lord, make myself known to him in a vision.

I speak with him in a dream. Not so with my servant Moses. He is faithful in all my house.

With him I speak mouth to mouth clearly and not in riddles,

and he beholds the form of the Lord.

Why then were you not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?

And the anger of the Lord was kindled against them, and he departed.

When the cloud removed from over the tent,

Behold, Miriam was leprous like snow. And Aaron turned toward

Miriam, and behold, she was leprous. And Aaron said to Moses, O my Lord, do not punish us because

we have done foolishly and have sinned. Let her not be as one dead whose flesh is half eaten away

when he comes out of his mother's womb. And Moses cried to the Lord,

...