Reference: Massah and Meribah
Hastings
Ex 17:1-7 (Jewish Encyclopedia) tells of a miraculous gift of water at a spot near Horeb, which was called Massah and Meribah ('testing' and 'contention') because the people tested Jahweh by doubting His providence and contended with Moses. It is implied that this occurred about a year after the Exodus. Nu 20:1-18, a later narrative (Priestly Narrative), gives a similar account, but puts it thirty-seven years later, and with important variations. The scene is now laid at Kadesh, which receives the name Meribah from the contention of Israel with Jahweh. Moses and Aaron also sin against Him. There are references to the first passage in De 6:16; 9:22; Ps 95:8; and to the second in De 32:51; Ps 106:32; in Ps 81:7 the two are apparently confused. De 33:8 regards the events at Kadesh in a peculiar light: here Jahweh proves Levi at Massah and strives with (or for) him at Meribah. The tendency of recent criticism is to consider Ex 17 and Nu 20 as duplicate records of the same event, the locality of which must be fixed at Kadesh, where the spring 'Ain Kad
See Verses Found in Dictionary
Then they turned back and came to En-Mishpat (that [is], Kadesh). And they defeated the whole territory of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites who were living in Hazazon-Tamar.
And all the community of the {Israelites} set out from the desert of Sin for their journeys according to the command of Yahweh, and they camped in Rephidim, and there was no water for the people to drink. And the people quarreled with Moses, and they said, "Give us water so that we can drink." And Moses said to them, "Why do you quarrel with me? Why do you test Yahweh?" read more. And the people thirsted for water, and the people grumbled against Moses and said, "Why {ever} did you bring us up from Egypt to kill me and my sons and my cattle with thirst?" And Moses cried out to Yahweh, saying, "What will I do with this people? A little longer and they will stone me." And Yahweh said to Moses, "Go on before the people and take with you [some] from the elders of Israel, and the staff with which you struck the Nile take in your hand, and go. Look, I [will be] standing before you there on the rock in Horeb, and you will strike the rock, and water will come out from it, and the people will drink." And Moses did so before the eyes of the elders of Israel. And he called the name of the place Massah and Meribah because of the quarrel of the {Israelites} and because of their testing Yahweh [by] saying, "Is Yahweh in our midst or not?"
Then the entire community of the {Israelites} came [to] the desert of Zin on the first month, and the people stayed in Kadesh; Miriam died and was buried there. There was no water for the community, and they were gathered before Moses and Aaron. read more. And the people quarreled with Moses and spoke, saying, "If only we died when our brothers were dying {before} Yahweh! Why have you brought the assembly of Yahweh, us and our livestock, into this desert to die here? Why have you brought us from Egypt to bring us to this bad place? It is not a place of seed or figs or vines or pomegranate trees, and there is not water to drink." And Moses and Aaron went from the presence of the assembly to the doorway of the tent of assembly. They fell on their faces, and the glory of Yahweh appeared to them. Yahweh spoke to Moses, saying, "Take the staff and summon the community, you and Aaron your brother, and speak to the rock before their eyes, and it will give water. Bring out for them water from the rock, and let the community and their livestock drink." So Moses took the staff from {before} Yahweh just as he command him, and Moses and Aaron summoned the assembly to the presence of the rock, and he said to them, "Please listen, you rebels; can we bring out water for you from this rock?" Then Moses lifted up his hand and struck the rock with his staff twice. And abundant water went out, and the community and their livestock drank. But Yahweh said to Moses and Aaron, "Because you have not trusted in me, to regard me as holy {in the sight of} the {Israelites}, you will not bring this assembly into the land that I have given to them." Those [were] the waters of Meribah, where the {Israelites} quarreled with Yahweh, and he showed himself holy among them. From Kadesh Moses sent messengers to the king of Edom: "Thus your brother Israel has said, 'You know all the hardship that has found us; our ancestors went down to Egypt, and we lived in Egypt {a long time}, and the Egyptians mistreated us and our ancestors. Then we cried to Yahweh, and he heard our voice; he sent an angel and brought us out from Egypt. And look, we [are] in Kadesh, a city on the edge of your territory. Please let us go through your land. We will not go through a field or vineyard, and we will not drink water from a well. We will go along the road of the king; we will not turn aside right or left until we have gone through your territory.'" Then Edom said to him, "You will not pass through us lest {we will go out} to meet you with the sword."
and houses full of all [sorts] of good things that you did not fill, and hewn cisterns that you did not hew, vineyards and olive groves that you did not plant, and {you have eaten your fill},
You shall not put Yahweh your God to [the] test, as you tested [him] at Massah.
"And [also] at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth Hattaavah you provoked Yahweh to anger.
"And [also] at Taberah and at Massah and at Kibroth Hattaavah you provoked Yahweh to anger.
because [of the fact] that you broke faith with me in the midst of Israel at the waters of Meribah Kadesh, [in] the desert of Zin, because {you did not treat me as holy} in the midst of the {Israelites}.
Then he said, "Yahweh came from Sinai, and he dawned upon them from Seir; he shone forth from Mount Paran, and he came with myriads of holy ones, at his right hand a fiery law for them.
And of Levi he said, "Your Thummim and your Urim [are] for {your faithful one}, {whom you tested at Massah}; you contended [with] him at the waters of Meribah.
In this trouble you called, and I rescued you. Within [the] secret place of thunder I answered you; I tested you at the waters of Meribah. Selah
"Do not harden your heart as [at] Meribah, as [in] the day of Massah in the wilderness,
They also angered [God] at the waters of Meribah, and it went badly for Moses on account of them,
{And the eastern boundary} [will be] between Hauran and Damascus, and from between Gilead and the land of Israel [along] the Jordan [River] from [the] boundary on the eastern sea to Tamar. And {this is the border on the east}. {And on the south side the border} [will run] from Tamar up to the waters [of] Meribot Kadesh [and along] the wadi to the Great Sea. And this [is] {the boundary to the south}.
and next to the territory of Gad, to [the] side of [the] south, {southward}; and [the] territory will be from Tamar [to] the waters of Meribath Kadesh, [toward] the wadi, [on] to the Great Sea.