Numbers 11:4–23

Complaints about Food

⁴Contemptible people ^aamong them ^bhad a strong craving ^cfor other food. The Israelites cried again and said, “Who will feed us meat? ⁵We remember the free fish we ate in Egypt, ^dalong with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. ⁶But now our appetite is gone; ^ethere’s nothing to look at but this manna!”

⁷The manna ^fresembled coriander seed, and its appearance was like that of bdellium. ^g8The people walked around and gathered it. They ground it on a pair of grinding stones or crushed it in a mortar, then boiled it in a cooking pot and shaped it into cakes. It tasted like a pastry cooked with the finest oil. ⁹When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it. ^h

¹⁰Moses heard the people, family after family, crying at the entrance of their tents. The Lord was very angry; ⁱMoses was also provoked. ^j11So Moses asked the Lord, “Why have You brought such trouble on Your servant? Why are You angry with me, and why do You burden me with all these people? ^k12Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth so You should tell me, ‘Carry them at your breast, as a nursing woman carries a baby,’ ^lto the land that You ^mswore to give their fathers? ⁿ¹³Where can I get meat to give all these people? For they are crying to me: ‘Give us meat to eat!’ ¹⁴I can’t carry all these people by myself. They are too much for me. ¹⁵If You are going to treat me like this, please kill me right now. ^oIf You are pleased with me, ^pdon’t let me see my misery ^qanymore.”

Seventy Elders Anointed

¹⁶The Lord answered Moses, “Bring Me 70 men from Israel known to you as elders and officers of the people. Take them to the tent of meeting and have them stand there with you. ¹⁷Then I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the Spirit who is on you and put the Spirit on them. ^rThey will help you bear the burden of the people, so that you do not have to bear it by yourself. ^s

¹⁸“Tell the people: Purify yourselves in readiness for tomorrow, and you will eat meat because you cried before the Lord: ‘Who will feed us meat? We really had it good in Egypt.’ The Lord will give you meat and you will eat. ¹⁹You will eat, not for one day, or two days, or five days, or 10 days, or 20 days, ²⁰but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes nauseating to you—because you have rejected the Lord who is among you, and cried to Him: ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’ ” ^t

²¹But Moses replied, “I’m in the middle of a people with 600,000 foot soldiers, ^uyet You say, ‘I will give them meat, and they will eat for a month.’ ²²If flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would they have enough? Or if all the fish in the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?” ^v

²³The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s power limited? ^wxYou will see whether or not what I have promised will happen to you.”