^11:18“And say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves⁴³ for tomorrow, and you will eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing⁴⁴ of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat,⁴⁵ for life⁴⁶ was good for us in Egypt?” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat. ^11:19You will eat, not just one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, ^11:20but a whole month,⁴⁷ until it comes out your nostrils and makes you sick,⁴⁸ because you have despised⁴⁹ the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why⁵⁰ did we ever come out of Egypt?” ’ ”

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Footnotes

43 The Hitpael is used to stress that they are to prepare for a holy appearance. The day was going to be special and so required their being set apart for it. But it is a holy day in the sense of the judgment that was to follow.
44 Heb “in the ears.”
45 Possibly this could be given an optative translation, to reflect the earlier one: “O that someone would give.…” But the verb is not the same; here it is the Hiphil of the verb “to eat”—“who will make us eat” (i.e., provide meat for us to eat).
46 The word “life” is not in the text. The expression is simply “it was for us,” or “we had good,” meaning “we had it good,” or “life was good.”
47 Heb “a month of days.” So also in v. 21.
48 The expression לְזָרָה (lézarah) has been translated “ill” or “loathsome.” It occurs only here in the Hebrew Bible. The Greek text interprets it as “sickness.” It could be nausea or vomiting (so G. B. Gray, Numbers [], ) from overeating.
49 The explanation is the interpretation of their behavior—it is in reality what they have done, even though they would not say they despised the Lord. They had complained and shown a lack of faith and a contempt for the program, which was in essence despising the Lord.
50 The use of the demonstrative pronoun here (“why is this we went out …”) is enclitic, providing emphasis to the sentence: “Why in the world did we ever leave Egypt?”

In other versions

ESVEnglish Standard Version

And say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?” ’ ”

NIVNew International Version (2011)

“Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you wailed, “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will eat it. You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it—because you have rejected the Lord, who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ’ ”

CSBChristian Standard Bible

“Tell the people: Consecrate yourselves in readiness for tomorrow, and you will eat meat because you wept in the Lord’s hearing, ‘Who will feed us meat? We were better off in Egypt.’ The Lord will give you meat and you will eat. You will eat, not for one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, but 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 wept before him, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’ ”

NLTNew Living Translation

“And say to the people, ‘Purify yourselves, for tomorrow you will have meat to eat. You were whining, and the Lord heard you when you cried, “Oh, for some meat! We were better off in Egypt!” Now the Lord will give you meat, and you will have to eat it. And it won’t be for just a day or two, or for five or ten or even twenty. You will eat it for a whole month until you gag and are sick of it. For you have rejected the Lord, who is here among you, and you have whined to him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ’ ”

LEBThe Lexham English Bible

And you will say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves tomorrow, for you will eat meat because you have wept in the ears of Yahweh, saying, “Who will feed us good meat? It was good for us in Egypt.” Yahweh will give to you meat, and you will eat. You will eat, not one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, but for a whole month, until it comes out from your nose and becomes as nausea to you; because you have rejected Yahweh, who is in your midst, and you wept before his presence, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ’ ”

KJV 1900King James Version

And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the Lord will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days; But even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the Lord which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?

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