Numbers 11
11
Complaints about Hardship
1Now the people began complaining openly before # 11:1 Lit in the ears of the Lord about hardship. When the Lord heard, his anger burned, # 11:1 Ex 22:24; 32:10–11; Nm 11:1,33; 32:13; Dt 6:15 and fire # 11:1 1Kg 18:38; 19:12; Is 66:16 from the Lord blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp. 2Then the people cried out to Moses, and he prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. 3So that place was named Taberah, # 11:3 = Blaze,# 11:3 Dt 9:22 because the Lord’s fire had blazed among them.
Complaints about Food
4The riffraff # 11:4 Or The mixed multitude; Hb obscure among them # 11:4 Ex 12:38 had a strong craving # 11:4 Nm 11:34; Ps 78:29–31; 106:14–15; 1Co 10:5–6 for other food. The Israelites wept again and said, “Who will feed us meat? 5We remember the free fish we ate in Egypt, # 11:5 Ex 16:3 along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. 6But now our appetite is gone; # 11:6 Or our lives are wasting away, or our throat is dry there’s nothing to look at but this manna! ”
7The manna # 11:7 Ex 16:4–35; Dt 8:3,16; Jos 5:12; Neh 9:20; Ps 78:24; Jn 6:48–51; Rv 2:17 resembled coriander seed, and its appearance was like that of bdellium. # 11:7 A yellowish, transparent gum resin 8The people walked around and gathered it. They ground it on a pair of grinding stones or crushed it in a mortar, then boiled it in a cooking pot and shaped it into cakes. It tasted like a pastry cooked with the finest oil. 9When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it. # 11:9 Ex 16:13–14
10Moses heard the people, family after family, weeping at the entrance of their tents. The Lord was very angry; # 11:10 Ex 22:24; 32:10–11; Nm 11:1,33; 32:13; Dt 6:15 Moses was also provoked. # 11:10 Lit and it was evil in the eyes of Moses 11So Moses asked the Lord, “Why have you brought such trouble on your servant? Why are you angry with me, # 11:11 Lit Why have I not found favor in your eyes and why do you burden me with all these people? # 11:11 Ex 5:22; Dt 1:9–13 12Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth so you should tell me, ‘Carry them at your breast, as a nursing mother carries a baby,’ # 11:12 Is 40:11; 66:11–12 to the land that you swore to give their ancestors? # 11:12 Gn 12:7; 26:3–4; Nm 14:16,23; Dt 6:10,23 13Where can I get meat to give all these people? For they are weeping to me, ‘Give us meat to eat! ’ 14I can’t carry all these people by myself. They are too much for me. 15If you are going to treat me like this, please kill me right now # 11:15 Ex 32:32; Jb 6:9; 7:15–16 if I have found favor with you, and # 11:15 Gn 6:8; Ex 33:12–17; Ru 2:2,10,13 don’t let me see my misery # 11:15 Alt Hb tradition reads your misery anymore.”
Seventy Elders Anointed
16The Lord answered Moses, “Bring me seventy men from Israel known to you as elders and officers of the people. Take them to the tent of meeting and have them stand there with you. 17Then I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the Spirit who is on you and put the Spirit on them. # 11:17 2Kg 2:9,15 They will help you bear the burden of the people, so that you do not have to bear it by yourself. # 11:17 Ex 18:18; Dt 1:9–13; Ac 6:1–6
18“Tell the people: Consecrate yourselves in readiness for tomorrow, and you will eat meat because you wept in the Lord’s hearing, ‘Who will feed us meat? We were better off in Egypt.’ The Lord will give you meat and you will eat. 19You will eat, not for one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, 20but for a whole month — until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes nauseating to you — because you have rejected the Lord who is among you, and wept before him, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt? ’ ” # 11:20 Ex 17:3
21But Moses replied, “I’m in the middle of a people with six hundred thousand foot soldiers, # 11:21 Ex 12:37; Nm 1:45–46; 2:32; 26:51 yet you say, ‘I will give them meat, and they will eat for a month.’ 22If flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would they have enough? Or if all the fish in the sea were caught for them, would they have enough? ” # 11:22 Mt 15:33; Mk 6:37; 8:4
23The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm weak? # 11:23 Lit the Lord’s arm too short,# 11:23 Jb 38:1–42:6; Is 50:2; 59:1 Now you will see whether or not what I have promised will happen to you.”
24Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. He brought seventy men from the elders of the people and had them stand around the tent. 25Then the Lord descended in the cloud and spoke to him. # 11:25 Ex 19:9; 33:9–10; Nm 12:5–8 He took some of the Spirit who was on Moses and placed the Spirit on the seventy elders. As the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied, # 11:25 1Sm 10:6–10; 19:20–24; Is 63:11; Jl 2:28 but they never did it again. 26Two men had remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other Medad; the Spirit rested on them — they were among those listed, but had not gone out to the tent — and they prophesied in the camp. 27A young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
28Joshua son of Nun, assistant to Moses since his youth, # 11:28 Or Moses, from his elite young men responded, “Moses, my lord, stop them! ”
29But Moses asked him, “Are you jealous on my account? # 11:29 Nm 12:2; 16:3 If only all the Lord’s people were prophets and the Lord would place his Spirit on them! ” 30Then Moses returned to the camp along with the elders of Israel.
Quail in the Camp
31A wind sent by the Lord # 11:31 Ex 14:21 came up and blew quail in from the sea; it dropped them all around the camp. They were flying three feet # 11:31 Lit two cubits off # 11:31 Or They were three feet deep on the ground for about a day’s journey in every direction. # 11:31 Ex 16:12–13; Ps 78:26–28 32The people were up all that day and night and all the next day gathering the quail — the one who took the least gathered sixty bushels # 11:32 Lit 10 homers — and they spread them out all around the camp. # 11:32 To dry or cure the meat; 2Sm 17:19; Ezk 26:5,14,# 11:32 2Sm 17:19; Ezk 26:5,14
33While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the Lord’s anger burned # 11:33 Ex 22:24; 32:10–11; Nm 11:1,10; 32:13; Dt 6:15 against the people, and the Lord struck them with a very severe plague. # 11:33 Ps 78:29–31; 106:14–15 34So they named that place Kibroth-hattaavah, # 11:34 = Graves of Craving because there they buried the people who had craved the meat.
35From Kibroth-hattaavah the people moved on to Hazeroth # 11:35 = Settlements; Nm 12:16; 33:16–17,# 11:35 Nm 12:16; 33:16–17 and remained there.
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© 2017 Holman Bible Publishers
Numbers 11
11
The people complain
1One day the Israelites started complaining about their troubles. The LORD heard them and became so angry that he destroyed the outer edges of their camp with fire.
2When the people begged Moses to help, he prayed, and the fire went out. 3They named the place “Burning”,#11.3 Burning: Or “Taberah”. because in his anger the LORD had set their camp on fire.
The people grumble about being hungry
4One day some worthless foreigners among the Israelites became greedy for food, and even the Israelites themselves began moaning, “We don't have any meat! 5In Egypt we could eat all the fish we wanted, and there were cucumbers, melons, onions, and garlic. 6But we're starving out here, and the only food we have is this manna.”
7The manna was like small whitish seeds#Ex 16.31. 8-9and tasted like something baked with sweet olive oil. It appeared at night with the dew. In the morning the people would collect the manna, grind or crush it into flour, then boil it and make it into thin wafers.#Ex 16.13-15.
10The Israelites stood around their tents complaining. Moses heard them and was upset that they had made the LORD angry. 11He prayed:
I am your servant, LORD, so why are you doing this to me? What have I done to deserve this? You've made me responsible for all these people, 12but they're not my children. You told me to nurse them along and to carry them to the land you promised their ancestors. 13They keep whining for meat, but where can I get meat for them? 14This job is too much for me. How can I take care of all these people by myself? 15If this is the way you're going to treat me, just kill me now and end my miserable life!
Seventy leaders are chosen to help Moses
16The LORD said to Moses:
Choose seventy of Israel's respected leaders and go with them to the sacred tent. 17While I am talking with you there, I will give them some of your authority, so they can share responsibility for my people. You will no longer have to care for them by yourself.
18As for the Israelites, I have heard them complaining about not having meat and about being better off in Egypt. So tell them to make themselves acceptable to me, because tomorrow they will have meat. 19-20In fact, they will have meat day after day for a whole month—not just a few days, or even ten or twenty. They turned against me and wanted to return to Egypt. Now they will eat meat until they get sick of it.
21Moses replied, “At least six hundred thousand grown men are here with me. How can you say there will be enough meat to feed them and their families for a whole month? 22Even if we butchered all our sheep and cattle, or caught every fish in the sea, we wouldn't have enough to feed them.”
23The LORD answered, “I can do anything! Watch and you'll see my words come true.”
24Moses told the people what the LORD had said. Then he chose seventy respected leaders and went with them to the sacred tent. While the leaders stood in a circle around the tent, Moses went inside, 25and the LORD spoke with him. Then the LORD took some authority#11.25 some authority: Or “some of the Spirit's power”. from Moses and gave it to the seventy leaders. And when the LORD's Spirit took control of them, they started shouting like prophets. But they did it only this one time.
26Eldad and Medad were two leaders who had not gone to the tent. But when the Spirit took control of them, they began shouting like prophets there in camp. 27A boy ran to Moses and told him about Eldad and Medad.
28Joshua#11.28 Joshua: Hebrew “Joshua son of Nun”. was there helping Moses, as he had done since he was young. And he said to Moses, “Sir, you must stop them!”
29But Moses replied, “Are you concerned what this might do to me? I wish the LORD would give his Spirit to all his people so everyone could be a prophet.” 30Then Moses and the seventy leaders went back to camp.
The LORD sends quails
31Some time later the LORD sent a strong wind that blew quails in from the sea until Israel's camp was completely surrounded with birds, piled up about a metre high for miles in every direction. 32The people picked up quails for two days—each person collected at least a thousand kilogrammes. Then they spread them out to dry. 33But before the meat could be eaten, the LORD became angry and sent a disease through the camp.
34After they had buried the people who had been so greedy for meat, they called the place “Graves for the Greedy”.#11.34 Graves for the Greedy: Or “Kibroth-Hattaavah”.
35Israel then broke camp and travelled to Hazeroth.
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© British and Foreign Bible Society 2012