Numbers 11:16–30

The Spirit Rests Upon the Elders

¹⁶Yahweh therefore said to Moses, “Gather for Me ^aseventy men from the elders of Israel, ^bwhom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers, and take them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you.

¹⁷“^aThen I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of ^bthe Spirit who is upon you, and will put Him upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not bear it all alone.

¹⁸“And say to the people, ‘^aSet yourselves apart as holy for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept ^bin the ears of Yahweh, saying, “Oh that someone would give us meat to eat! For it was good for us in Egypt.” Therefore Yahweh will give you meat, and you shall eat.

¹⁹‘You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days,

²⁰¹but a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you; because ^ayou have rejected Yahweh who is among you and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we ever go out from Egypt?” ’ ”

²¹But Moses said, “The people, among whom I am, are 600,000 on foot; yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat, so that they may eat for a whole month.’

²²“Should flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to be sufficient for them? Or should all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be sufficient for them?”

²³And Yahweh said to Moses, “Is ^aYahweh’s ¹power limited? Now you shall see whether ^bMy word will happen for you or not.”

²⁴So Moses went out and ^atold the people the words of Yahweh. Also, he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and had them stand around the tent.

^25aThen Yahweh came down in the cloud and spoke to him; and He took of the Spirit who was upon him and placed Him upon the seventy elders. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do it again.

²⁶But two men had remained in the camp; the name of one was Eldad and the name of the ¹other Medad. And ^athe Spirit rested upon them (now they were among those who had been registered, but had not gone out to the tent), and they prophesied in the camp.

²⁷So a young man ran and told Moses and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

²⁸Then ^aJoshua the son of Nun, the attendant of Moses from his youth, said, “^bMoses, my lord, restrain them.”

²⁹But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? ^aWould that all the people of Yahweh were prophets, that Yahweh would put His Spirit upon them!”

³⁰Then Moses ¹returned to the camp, both he and the elders of Israel.