Waters of Marah and Elim

Exodus 15:22-27. When the people came to Marah, they could not drink its water because it was bitter, which is why the place has that name, as in Hebrew it means: bitter.

People and stock cannot last long without water.

Elim in Hebrew means: palm trees.

What the people did was they grumbled to Moses about the situation, not thinking God would make the water drinkable.

Background Reading:

The Waters of Marah and Elim – The first time God Provides Water for the People

15:22 Then Moses led Israel from the Reed Sea and they went to the desert of Shur. They traveled into the desert for three days and did not find water. 23 When they came to Marah, they could not drink the water at Marah because it was bitter. (That is why it’s called Marah.) 24 Then the people complained against Moses: “What are we to drink?” 25 Moses cried out to the LORD, and the LORD showed him a tree, which he threw into the water, and the water became sweet.

There the LORD presented to them a statute and an ordinance, and there he tested them. 26 He said, “If you will carefully obey the LORD your God, do what he sees to be right, listen to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, then I won’t inflict on you all the diseases that I inflicted on the Egyptians, because I am the LORD your healer.” 27 Then they came to Elim where there were twelve springs of water and 70 palm trees, and they camped there by the water.
Exodus 15:22-27


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