These are the waters of Meribah: The demonstrative pronoun These refers back to the water that came from the rock. Good News Translation omits the waters, which we do not recommend. Instead of the present tense (are), Good News Translation uses the past tense (“happened”), which may be more natural in some languages. However, the Hebrew clause here does not have a verb, so the present tense is also valid. The name Meribah also occurs in Exo 17.7. Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation give its meaning in a footnote (so also New Revised Standard Version with the meaning “Quarrel”). Some translations include the meaning of Meribah in the text itself; for example, New Living Translation says “Meribah (which means ‘arguing’),” and La Nouvelle Bible Segond has “Meribah” (‘Quarrel’).” This place is very significant in the book of Numbers. Ashley (page 386) says, “As the people had refused to rely on Yahweh in their first sojourn at Kadesh and were condemned to die outside the land of promise (14.11, 22-35), so here in the second sojourn there (many years later), the leaders make the same mistake and are sentenced to the same fate.”
Where the people of Israel contended with the LORD: In this context the Hebrew particle rendered where (ʾasher) is better translated “because” (New Living Translation, NET Bible), since it introduces why the place was called Meribah. This name and the Hebrew verb rendered contended come from the same root (r y b; see the comments on verse 3).
And he showed himself holy among them: The Hebrew clause here can also mean “and he was made holy by them” (mentioned by the Jewish commentators Rashi and Rashbam). The Hebrew verb here is the same one rendered “sanctify” in the previous verse, but in a different form. (The name “Kadesh” comes from the same root.) Translators should render it consistently in this context. Both Revised Standard Version and Good News Translation seem to take the pronoun them to refer to the Israelites (so also Bijbel: Vertaling in opdracht van het Nederlandsch Bijbelgenootschap, De Nieuwe Bijbelvertaling). But New Revised Standard Version takes this pronoun to refer to the waters (which is plural in Hebrew) out of the rock and translates this clause as follows: “and by which he showed his holiness” (similarly La Bible de Jérusalem Nouvelle, Rashbam). Compare also Revised English Bible with “and through which his holiness was upheld” (supported by Noth, page 147). Translators may follow either understanding for this pronoun. A possible model for the first interpretation is “and he showed them that he is a holy God.”
Some helpful models for this verse are:
• These are the waters of Meribah, because the Israelites contended with the LORD, and his holiness was maintained among them [NET Bible].
• This place was known as the waters of Meribah (which means “arguing”) because there the people of Israel argued with the LORD, and there he demonstrated his holiness among them [New Living Translation].
• Those are the Waters of Meribah—meaning that the Israelites quarrelled with the LORD—through which He affirmed His sanctity [New Jewish Publication Society’s Tanakh].
Quoted with permission from de Regt, Lénart J. and Wendland, Ernst R. A Handbook on Numbers. (UBS Helps for Translators). Miami: UBS, 2016. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .