Numbers 11:16–25

¹⁶The Lord said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders^u who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people.^v Have them come to the tent of meeting,^w that they may stand there with you. ¹⁷I will come down and speak with you^x there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them.^y They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone.^z

¹⁸“Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves^a in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you wailed,^b “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!”^c Now the Lord will give you meat,^d and you will eat it. ¹⁹You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, ²⁰but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it^e—because you have rejected the Lord,^f who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ’ ”^g

²¹But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand men^h on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’ ²²Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”ⁱ

²³The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm too short?^j Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.^k”

²⁴So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the tent. ²⁵Then the Lord came down in the cloud^l and spoke with him,^m and he took some of the power of the Spiritⁿ that was on him and put it on the seventy elders.^o When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied^p—but did not do so again.