Seventy Elders to Assist

16 The Lord 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 bring 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 “Say to the people, ‘aConsecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept bin the ears of the Lord, saying, “Oh that someone would give us meat to eat! For we were well-off in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord 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,

20 1but a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you; because ayou have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ’ ”

21 But 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?”

23 The Lord said to Moses, “Is athe Lord’s 1power limited? Now you shall see whether bMy word will 2come true for you or not.”

24 So Moses went out and atold the people the words of the Lord. Also, he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and stationed them around the tent.

25 aThen the Lord 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.

26 But 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.

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

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

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

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