And he called the name of the place is the literal way of saying “He named the place” (Revised English Bible). Good News Translation and others use the passive voice (“The place was named”), but the text clearly identifies Moses as the one who gave the names. So one may say “Moses named that place….” Massah and Meribah are two different names for the same place, probably coming from two different traditions. (See the comments on these names at verse 2.) Since Massah means “proof” (Revised Standard Version) or “testing” (Good News Translation), and Meribah means “contention” (Revised Standard Version) or “complaining” (Good News Translation), it may be more natural to interchange the two names Meribah and Massah in order to relate them in the same sequence to only one “because” clause, and say “because the Israelites complained and put the LORD to the test.”

Because of the faultfinding brings out the meaning of Meribah, and because they put the LORD to the proof brings out the meaning of Massah. It is possible to connect each clause to the name of the place as follows: “He named the place Meribah because the Israelites quarreled. He also named it Massah because they put Yahweh to the test by saying….”

Is the LORD among us or not uses two words that mean “existence” (“is”) and “nonexistence” (“is not”). The LORD, of course, is the sacred name YHWH, which suggests the meaning “He who is” (see the comment at 3.2a), but this cannot easily be brought out in translation. Among us is literally “in our midst” (Revised English Bible). So one may say “Is Yahweh existent in our midst or is he nonexistent?” This, of course, is a question that challenges Yahweh to prove that he is with them.

It is possible to reorder the clauses in this verse as Contemporary English Version has done:

• The people had complained and tested the LORD by asking, “Is the LORD really with us?” So Moses named that place Massah, which means “testing” and Meribah, which means “complaining.”

Quoted with permission from Osborn, Noel D. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Exodus. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1999. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .