⁴Some troublemakers among them wanted better food, and soon all the Israelites began complaining. They said, “We want meat! ⁵We remember the fish we ate for free in Egypt. We also had cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. ⁶But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!”

⁷The manna was like small white seeds. ⁸The people would go to gather it, and then grind it in handmills, or crush it between stones. After they cooked it in a pot or made cakes with it, it tasted like bread baked with olive oil. ⁹When the dew fell on the camp each night, so did the manna.

¹⁰Moses heard every family crying as they stood in the entrances of their tents. Then the Lord became very angry, and Moses got upset. ¹¹He asked the Lord, “Why have you brought me, your servant, this trouble? What have I done wrong that you made me responsible for all these people? ¹²I am not the father of all these people, and I didn’t give birth to them. So why do you make me carry them to the land you promised to our ancestors? Must I carry them in my arms as a nurse carries a baby? ¹³Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep crying to me, ‘We want meat!’ ¹⁴I can’t take care of all these people alone. It is too much for me. ¹⁵If you are going to continue doing this to me, then kill me now. If you care about me, put me to death, and then I won’t have any more troubles.”

¹⁶The Lord said to Moses, “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders, men that you know are leaders among the people. Bring them to the Meeting Tent, and have them stand there with you. ¹⁷I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the Spirit that is in you, and I will give it to them. They will help you care for the people so that you will not have to care for them alone.

¹⁸“Tell the people this: ‘Make yourselves holy for tomorrow, and you will eat meat. You cried to the Lord, “We want meat! We were better off in Egypt!” So now the Lord will give you meat to eat. ¹⁹You will eat it not for just one, two, five, ten, or even twenty days, ²⁰but you will eat that meat for a whole month. You will eat it until it comes out your nose, and you will grow to hate it. This is because you have rejected the Lord, who is with you. You have cried to him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ’ ”

²¹Moses said, “Lord, here are six hundred thousand people standing around me, and you say, ‘I will give them enough meat to eat for a month!’ ²²If we killed all the flocks and herds, that would not be enough. If we caught all the fish in the sea, that would not be enough.”

²³But the Lord said to Moses, “Do you think I’m weak? Now you will see if I can do what I say.”

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