Numbers 11:17–29

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.

²⁶However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them,^q and they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

²⁸Joshua son of Nun,^r who had been Moses’ aide^s since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”^t

²⁹But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets^u and that the Lord would put his Spirit^v on them!”^w