Numbers 11

The People Complain

11Now ^awhen the people complained, it displeased the Lord; ^bfor the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the ^cfire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. ²Then the people ^dcried out to Moses, and when Moses ^eprayed to the Lord, the fire was ¹quenched. ³So he called the name of the place ²Taberah, because the fire of the Lord had burned among them.

⁴Now the ^fmixed multitude who were among them ³yielded to ^gintense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: ^h“Who will give us meat to eat? ⁵ⁱWe remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; ⁶but now ^jour whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”

⁷Now ^kthe manna was like coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium. ⁸The people went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in pans, and made cakes of it; and ^lits taste was like the taste of pastry prepared with oil. ⁹And ^mwhen the dew fell on the camp in the night, the manna fell on it.

¹⁰Then Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and ⁿthe anger of the Lord was greatly aroused; Moses also was displeased. ^11oSo Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the ⁴burden of all these people on me? ¹²Did I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me, ^p‘Carry them in your bosom, as a ^qguardian carries a nursing child,’ to the land which You ^rswore ⁵to their fathers? ^13sWhere am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ ^14tI am not able to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. ¹⁵If You treat me like this, please kill me here and now—if I have found favor in Your sight—and ^udo not let me see my wretchedness!”

The Seventy Elders

¹⁶So the Lord said to Moses: “Gather to Me ^vseventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and ^wofficers over them; bring them to the tabernacle of meeting, that they may stand there with you. ¹⁷Then I will come down and talk with you there. ^xI will take of the Spirit that is upon you and will put the same upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself alone. ¹⁸Then you shall say to the people, ⁶‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept ^yin the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. ¹⁹You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, ^20zbut for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have ^adespised the Lord who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, ^b“Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?” ’ ”

²¹And Moses said, ^c“The people whom I am among are six hundred thousand men on foot; yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat for a whole month.’ ^22dShall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?”

²³And the Lord said to Moses, ^e“Has ⁷the Lord’s arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether ^fwhat I say will happen to you or not.”

²⁴So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord, and he ^ggathered the seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tabernacle. ²⁵Then the Lord came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders; and it happened, ^hwhen the Spirit rested upon them, that ⁱthey prophesied, ⁸although they never did so again.

²⁶But two men had remained in the camp: the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed, but who ^jhad not gone out to the tabernacle; yet they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷And a young man ran and told Moses, and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

²⁸So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, “Moses my lord, ^kforbid them!”

²⁹Then Moses said to him, “Are you ⁹zealous for my sake? ^lOh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” ³⁰And Moses returned to the camp, he and the elders of Israel.

The Lord Sends Quail

³¹Now a ^mwind went out from the Lord, and it brought quail from the sea and left them fluttering near the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and about a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the ground. ³²And the people stayed up all that day, all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail (he who gathered least gathered ten ⁿhomers); and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. ³³But while the ^omeat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the Lord was aroused against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. ³⁴So he called the name of that place ¹Kibroth Hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had yielded to craving.

^35pFrom Kibroth Hattaavah the people moved to Hazeroth, and camped at Hazeroth.