Bible / Exodus
Exodus 17
Douay-Rheims Bible, Challoner revision (1749–1752), the traditional Catholic English Bible, translated from the Latin Vulgate. If you read a modern Bible, this is the same Scripture in older English; some names are spelled differently (Cesarea for Caesarea, Apocalypse for Revelation). About this translation
1 Then all the multitude of the children of Israel setting forward from the desert of Sin, by their mansions, according to the word of the Lord, encamped in Raphidim, where there was no water for the people to drink.
2 And they chode with Moses, and said: Give us water, that we may drink. And Moses answered them: Why chide you with me? Wherefore do you tempt the Lord?
3 So the people were thirsty there for want of water, and murmured against Moses, saying: Why didst thou make us go forth out of Egypt, to kill us and our children, and our beasts with thirst?
4 And Moses cried to the Lord, saying: What shall I do to this people? Yet a little more and they will stone me.
5 And the Lord said to Moses: Go before the people, and take with thee of the ancients of Israel: and take in thy hand the rod wherewith thou didst strike the river, and go.
6 Behold I will stand there before thee, upon the rock Horeb, and thou shalt strike the rock, and water shall come out of it that the people may drink. Moses did so before the ancients of Israel:
7 And he called the name of that place Temptation, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and for that they tempted the Lord, saying: Is the Lord amongst us or not?
8 And Amalec came, and fought against Israel in Raphidim.
9 And Moses said to Josue: Choose out men; and go out and fight against Amalec: tomorrow I will stand on the top of the hill, having the rod of God in my hand.
10 Josue did as Moses had spoken, and he fought against Amalec; but Moses, and Aaron, and Hur, went up upon the top of the hill.
11 And when Moses lifted up his hands, Israel overcame; but if he let them down a little, Amalec overcame.
12 And Moses’s hands were heavy: so they took a stone, and put under him, and he sat on it: and Aaron and Hur stayed up his hands on both sides. And it came to pass, that his hands were not weary until sunset.
13 And Josue put Amalec and his people to flight, by the edge of the sword.
14 And the Lord said to Moses: Write this for a memorial in a book, and deliver it to the ears of Josue; for I will destroy the memory of Amalec from under heaven.
15 And Moses built an altar; and called the name thereof, The Lord, my exaltation, saying:
16 Because the hand of the throne of the Lord, and the war of the Lord shall be against Amalec, from generation to generation.
This chapter in the Catechism and the early Church
Where the Catechism of the Catholic Church cites these verses (from its footnotes on vatican.va), and where the earliest Church Fathers quote them (Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1, public domain). Short quotes only; follow the links for the full text. The Catechism uses modern verse numbers, so these are listed by chapter.
- Exodus 17:1 in modern BiblesCCC 694
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- CCC 694 “Water. the symbolism of water signifies the Holy Spirit's action in Baptism, since after the invocation of the Holy Spirit it becomes…”
- Exodus 17:7 in modern BiblesCCC 2119
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- CCC 2119 “Tempting God consists in putting his goodness and almighty power to the test by word or deed. Thus Satan tried to induce…”
- Exodus 17:8 in modern BiblesCCC 2577
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- CCC 2577 “From this intimacy with the faithful God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, Moses drew strength and determination for his…”
- Exodus 17:9 in modern BiblesCCC 2577
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- CCC 2577 “From this intimacy with the faithful God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, Moses drew strength and determination for his…”
- Exodus 17:10 in modern BiblesCCC 2577
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- CCC 2577 “From this intimacy with the faithful God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, Moses drew strength and determination for his…”
- Exodus 17:11 in modern BiblesCCC 2577
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- CCC 2577 “From this intimacy with the faithful God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, Moses drew strength and determination for his…”
“by the builders, and was led as a sheep to the slaughter, and by the stretching forth of His hands destroyed Amalek;”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book IV, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XXXIII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Exodus 17:12 in modern BiblesCCC 2577
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- CCC 2577 “From this intimacy with the faithful God, slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love, Moses drew strength and determination for his…”
- Exodus 17:14 in modern Bibles
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“… given him when he sent him to spy out the land, he said, "Take a book into thy hands, and write what the Lord declares, that the Son of God will in the last days cut off from the roots all the house of Amalek.”
Quoted in The Letter of Barnabas, Unknown author (early 2nd century), Chapter XII. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
- Exodus 17:16 in modern Bibles
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“… shall have knowledge to cry, Father or mother, He shall receive the power of Damascus, and the spoils of Samaria, against the king of the Assyrians;" declaring, in a mysterious manner indeed, but emphatically, that the Lord did fight with a hidden hand against Amalek.”
Quoted in Against Heresies, Book III, St. Irenaeus of Lyons (c. AD 180), Chapter XVI. Ante-Nicene Fathers, vol. 1
A modern English Catholic translation will be added once its publisher grants permission.