In the camp, whispers rose from within Moses' own family. Miriam and Aaron spoke against him because of his Cushite wife. "Has the LORD spoken only through Moses?" they asked, "Hasn't He spoken through us as well?" And the LORD heard every word.
Now Moses was a man of unmatched humility, the meekest on all the earth. Yet suddenly, the LORD called out—"Moses, Aaron, Miriam—come to the Tent of Meeting." The three came forward, their hearts heavy with silence.
The LORD descended in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance. He summoned Aaron and Miriam, and when they stepped forward, His voice thundered:
"When I raise up a prophet among you, I make Myself known in visions, I speak in dreams. But not so with My servant Moses. He is faithful in all My house. With him I speak face to face, clearly, not in riddles. He beholds the very form of the LORD. Why then were you not afraid to speak against My servant?"
The LORD's anger burned hot against them, and the cloud lifted from the Tent. In that moment Miriam stood leprous—her skin white as snow. Aaron turned and saw her, stricken with disease, and cried to Moses:
"Please, my lord, do not hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed! Do not let her be like an infant whose flesh is half consumed at birth!"
And Moses, moved with compassion, cried to the LORD: "O God, please heal her!"
But the LORD replied, "If her own father had spat in her face, would she not bear shame for seven days? Let her be confined outside the camp for seven days; after that, she may return."
So Miriam was sent outside the camp, and the people did not journey on until she was brought back. Only then did Israel move forward from Hazeroth and encamp in the wilderness of Paran.