Numbers 11–13

The Lord Sends Fire Among the People

11The people weren’t happy about the hard times they were having. The Lord heard what they were saying. It made him burn with anger. Then the Lord sent fire on them. It blazed out among the people. It burned up some of the outer edges of the camp.

²The people cried out to Moses. Then he prayed to the Lord. And the fire died down.

³So that place was named Taberah. That’s because fire from the Lord had blazed out among them there.

The Lord Sends Meat for the People

⁴Some people who were with them began to long for other food. Again the people of Israel began to cry out. They said, “We wish we had meat to eat. ⁵We remember the fish we ate in Egypt. It didn’t cost us anything. We also remember the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. ⁶But now we’ve lost all interest in eating. We never see anything but this manna!”

⁷The manna was like coriander seeds. It looked like sap from a tree. ⁸The people went around gathering it. Then they ground it in a small mill they held in their hands. Or they crushed it in a stone bowl. They cooked it in a pot. Or they made cakes out of it. It tasted like something made with olive oil. ⁹When the dew came down on the camp at night, the manna also came down.

¹⁰Moses heard people from every family crying. They were sobbing at the entrances to their tents.

The Lord burned with hot anger. So Moses became troubled. ¹¹He asked the Lord, “Why have you brought this trouble on me? Why aren’t you pleased with me? Why have you loaded me down with the troubles of all of these people?

¹²“Am I like a mother to them? Are they my children? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms? Do I have to carry them the way a nurse carries a baby? Do I have to carry them to the land you promised? You took an oath and promised the land to their people of long ago.

¹³“Where can I get meat for all of these people? They keep crying out to me. They say, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ ¹⁴I can’t carry all of these people by myself. The load is too heavy for me.

¹⁵“Is this how you are going to treat me? If you are pleased with me, just put me to death right now. Don’t let me live if I have to see myself destroyed anyway.”

¹⁶The Lord said to Moses, “Bring me 70 of Israel’s elders. Bring men that you know are leaders and officials among the people. Have them come to the Tent of Meeting. I want them to stand there with you. ¹⁷I will come down. I will speak with you there. I will take some of my Spirit that is on you. And I will put the Spirit on them. They will help you carry the people’s load. Then you will not have to carry it alone.

¹⁸“Tell the people, ‘Set yourselves apart for tomorrow. At that time you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you cried out. You said, “We wish we had meat to eat. We were better off in Egypt.”

“ ‘Now the Lord will give you meat. And you will eat it. ¹⁹You will not eat it for just one or two days. You will not eat it for just five, ten or 20 days. ²⁰Instead, you will eat it for a whole month. You will eat it until it comes out of your nose. You will eat it until you hate it.

“ ‘The Lord is among you. But you have turned your back on him. You have cried out while he was listening. You have said, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ’ ”

²¹But Moses said, “Here I am among 600,000 men on the march. And you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month’! ²²Would they have enough if flocks and herds were killed for them? Would they have enough even if all of the fish in the ocean were caught for them?”

²³The Lord answered Moses, “Am I not strong enough? Now you will see whether what I say will come true for you.”

²⁴So Moses went out. He told the people what the Lord had said. He gathered 70 of their elders together. He had them stand around the Tent of Meeting.

²⁵Then the Lord came down in the cloud. He spoke with Moses. He took some of his Spirit that was on Moses. And he put the Spirit on the 70 elders. When the Spirit came on them, they prophesied. But they didn’t do it again.

²⁶Two men had remained in the camp. Their names were Eldad and Medad. They were listed among the elders. But they didn’t go out to the Tent of Meeting. In spite of that, the Spirit came on them too. So they prophesied in the camp.

²⁷A young man ran up to Moses. He said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

²⁸Joshua spoke up. He was the son of Nun. Joshua had been Moses’ helper from the time he was young. He said, “Moses! Please stop them!”

²⁹But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for me? I wish that all of the Lord’s people were prophets. And I wish that the Lord would put his Spirit on them.” ³⁰Then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.

³¹The Lord sent out a wind. It drove quail in from the Red Sea. It brought them down all around the camp. They were about three feet above the ground. They could be seen in every direction as far as a person could walk in a day.

³²The people went out all day and gathered quail. They gathered them all night and all the next day. No one gathered less than 60 bushels. Then they spread the quail out all around the camp.

³³But while the meat was still in their mouths, the Lord acted. Before the people could swallow it, his anger burned against them. He struck them with a terrible plague.

³⁴So the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah. That’s where the bodies of the people who had longed for other food were buried.

³⁵From Kibroth Hattaavah the people traveled to Hazeroth. And they stayed there.

Miriam and Aaron Speak Against Moses

12Miriam and Aaron began to say bad things about Moses. That’s because Moses had married a woman from Cush. ²“Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?” The Lord heard what they said.

³Moses wasn’t very proud at all. In fact, he had less pride than anyone else on the face of the earth.

⁴The Lord spoke to Moses, Aaron and Miriam. He said, “All three of you, come out to the Tent of Meeting.” So they did. ⁵Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud. He stood at the entrance to the tent. And he told Aaron and Miriam to come to him. Both of them stepped forward.

⁶Then the Lord said, “Listen to my words.

“Suppose one of my prophets is among you.

I make myself known to him in visions.

I speak to him in dreams.

⁷But that is not true of my servant Moses.

He is faithful in everything he does in my house.

⁸With Moses I speak face to face.

I speak with him clearly. I do not speak in riddles.

I let him see something of what I look like.

So why were you not afraid

to speak against my servant Moses?”

⁹The anger of the Lord burned against them. And he left them.

¹⁰When the cloud went up from above the tent, there stood Miriam. She had a disease that made her skin as white as snow.

Aaron turned toward her. He saw that she had a skin disease. ¹¹So he said to Moses, “We have committed a very foolish sin. Please don’t hold it against us. ¹²Don’t let Miriam be like a baby that was born dead. Don’t let her look like a dead baby whose body is half eaten away.”

¹³So Moses cried out to the Lord. He said, “God, please heal her!”

¹⁴The Lord answered Moses. He said, “Suppose her father had spit in her face. Then she would have been put to shame for seven days. So keep her outside the camp for seven days. After that, you can bring her back.”

¹⁵So Miriam was kept outside the camp for seven days. The people didn’t move on until she was brought back.

¹⁶After that, the people left Hazeroth. They camped in the Desert of Paran.

Some Men Check Out the Land of Canaan

13The Lord spoke to Moses. He said, ²“Send some men to check out the land of Canaan. I am giving it to the people of Israel. Send one leader from each of Israel’s tribes.”

³So Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. He sent them as the Lord had commanded. All of them were leaders of the people of Israel.

⁴Here are their names.

There was Shammua from the tribe of Reuben. Shammua was the son of Zaccur.

⁵There was Shaphat from the tribe of Simeon. Shaphat was the son of Hori.

⁶There was Caleb from the tribe of Judah. Caleb was the son of Jephunneh.

⁷There was Igal from the tribe of Issachar. Igal was the son of Joseph.

⁸There was Hoshea from the tribe of Ephraim. Hoshea was the son of Nun.

⁹There was Palti from the tribe of Benjamin. Palti was the son of Raphu.

¹⁰There was Gaddiel from the tribe of Zebulun. Gaddiel was the son of Sodi.

¹¹There was Gaddi from the tribe of Manasseh. Gaddi was the son of Susi. Manasseh was a tribe of Joseph.

¹²There was Ammiel from the tribe of Dan. Ammiel was the son of Gemalli.

¹³There was Sethur from the tribe of Asher. Sethur was the son of Michael.

¹⁴There was Nahbi from the tribe of Naphtali. Nahbi was the son of Vophsi.

¹⁵There was Geuel from the tribe of Gad. Geuel was the son of Maki.

¹⁶Those are the men Moses sent to check out the land. He gave the name Joshua to Hoshea, the son of Nun.

¹⁷Moses sent them to check out Canaan. He said, “Go up through the Negev Desert. Go on into the central hill country. ¹⁸See what the land is like. See whether the people who live there are strong or weak. See whether they are few or many.

¹⁹“What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Do the towns have high walls around them or not? ²⁰How is the soil? Is it rich land or poor land? Are there trees on it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.” It was the season for the first ripe grapes.

²¹So the men went up and checked out the land. They went from the Desert of Zin as far as Rehob. It was in the direction of Lebo Hamath. ²²They went up through the Negev Desert and came to Hebron. That’s where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai lived. They belonged to the family line of Anak. Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan. Zoan was a city in Egypt.

²³The men came to the Valley of Eshcol. There they cut off a branch that had a single bunch of grapes on it. Two of them carried it on a pole between them. They carried some pomegranates and figs along…