Exodus 17 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

The entire community of Israel left the Sin desert, traveling in stages as Yahweh directed them. They set up camp at Rephidim, but there was no water for the people to drink.

So the people confronted Moses and demanded, "Give us water to drink!" Moses said to them, "Why are you fighting with me? Why are you testing Yahweh?"

But the people were desperate for water there, and they complained against Moses: "Why did you even bring us out of Egypt? To kill us and our children and our livestock with thirst?"

Moses cried out to Yahweh, "What am I supposed to do with these people? They're about ready to stone me!"

Yahweh told Moses, "Walk ahead of the people and take some of Israel's elders with you. Bring the staff you struck the Nile with, and go."

"I'll be standing right there in front of you on the rock at Horeb. Strike the rock, and water will come out of it for the people to drink." Moses did this in front of Israel's elders.

He named the place Massah and Meribah because of how the Israelites fought with Moses and because they tested Yahweh by asking, "Is Yahweh with us or not?"

Then the Amalekites came and attacked Israel at Rephidim.

Moses told Joshua, "Choose some men for us and go fight the Amalekites. Tomorrow I'll stand on top of the hill with God's staff in my hand."

Joshua did what Moses told him and fought the Amalekites, while Moses, Aaron, and Hur went up to the top of the hill.

Whenever Moses raised his hands, Israel was winning. But whenever he lowered his hands, the Amalekites were winning.

But Moses' hands got heavy. So they took a stone and put it under him, and he sat on it. Then Aaron and Hur held up his hands — one on each side — so his hands stayed steady until the sun went down.

So Joshua overwhelmed the Amalekites and their army with the sword.

Then Yahweh told Moses, "Write this down as something to remember, and make sure Joshua hears it: I will completely wipe out any memory of the Amalekites from under the sky."

Moses built an altar and named it "Yahweh Is My Banner,"

saying, "Because a hand was raised against the throne of Yah, Yahweh will be at war with the Amalekites from generation to generation."