Chapter 11

The People Complain

1 Now the people became like athose who complain of adversity bin the hearing of the Lord; and when the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some of the outskirts of the camp.

2 aThe people therefore cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord and the fire 1died out.

3 So the name of that place was called 1aTaberah, because the fire of the Lord burned among them.

4 The arabble who were among them 1had greedy desires; and also the sons of Israel wept again and said, “bWho will give us 2meat to eat?

5 “aWe remember the fish which we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic,

6 but now aour 1appetite is gone. There is nothing at all 2to look at except this manna.”

7 aNow the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bbdellium.

8 The people would go about and gather it and grind it 1between two millstones or beat it in the mortar, and boil it in the pot and make cakes with it; and its taste was as the taste of 2cakes baked with oil.

9 aWhen the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall 1with it.

The Complaint of Moses

10 Now Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, each man at the doorway of his tent; and the anger of the Lord was kindled greatly, and 1Moses was displeased.

11 aSo Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You 1been so hard on Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have laid the burden of all this people on me?

12 “Was it I who conceived all this people? Was it I who brought them forth, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom as a 1anurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which bYou swore to their fathers’?

13 “Where am I to get meat to give to aall this people? For they weep before me, saying, ‘Give us meat that we may eat!’

14 “aI alone am not able to carry all this people, because it is too 1burdensome for me.

15 “aSo if You are going to deal thus with me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in Your sight, and do not let me see my wretchedness.”

Seventy Elders to Assist

16 The Lord therefore said to Moses, “Gather for Me aseventy men from the elders of Israel, bwhom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you.

17 “aThen I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of bthe Spirit who is upon you, and will put Him upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not bear it all alone.

18 “Say to the people, ‘aConsecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept bin the ears of the Lord, saying, “Oh that someone would give us meat to eat! For we were well-off in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat and you shall eat.

19 ‘You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days,

20 1but a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you; because ayou have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?” ’ ”

21 But Moses said, “The people, among whom I am, are 600,000 on foot; yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat, so that they may eat for a whole month.’

22 “Should flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to be sufficient for them? Or should all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be sufficient for them?”

23 The Lord said to Moses, “Is athe Lord’s 1power limited? Now you shall see whether bMy word will 2come true for you or not.”

24 So Moses went out and atold the people the words of the Lord. Also, he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and stationed them around the tent.

25 aThen the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him; and He took of the Spirit who was upon him and placed Him upon the seventy elders. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do it again.

26 But two men had remained in the camp; the name of one was Eldad and the name of the 1other Medad. And athe Spirit rested upon them (now they were among those who had been registered, but had not gone out to the tent), and they prophesied in the camp.

27 So a young man ran and told Moses and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

28 Then aJoshua the son of Nun, the attendant of Moses from his youth, said, “bMoses, my lord, restrain them.”

29 But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? aWould that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!”

30 Then Moses 1returned to the camp, both he and the elders of Israel.

The Quail and the Plague

31 aNow there went forth a wind from the Lord and it brought quail from the sea, and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp and 1about two 2cubits deep on the surface of the ground.

32 The people 1spent all day and all night and all the next day, and gathered the quail (he who gathered least gathered ten 2ahomers) and they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.

33 aWhile the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very severe plague.

34 So the name of that place was called 1aKibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had been greedy.

35 From Kibroth-hattaavah athe people set out for Hazeroth, and they 1remained at Hazeroth.