Numbers 11
11
The People Complain Again
1The people started complaining about their troubles. The Lord heard their complaints. He heard these things and became angry. Fire from the Lord burned among the people. The fire burned some of the areas at the edge of the camp. 2So the people cried to Moses for help. He prayed to the Lord and the fire stopped burning. 3So that place was called Taberah.#11:3 Taberah This name means “burning.” The people gave the place that name because the Lord caused a fire to burn in their camp.
The 70 Older Leaders
4The foreigners who had joined the Israelites began wanting other things to eat. Soon all the Israelites began complaining again. The people said, “We want to eat meat! 5We remember the fish we ate in Egypt. That fish cost us nothing. We also had good vegetables like cucumbers, melons, chives, onions, and garlic. 6But now we have lost our strength. We never eat anything—only this manna!” 7(The manna was like small coriander seeds, and it looked like sap from a tree. 8The people gathered the manna. Then they used rocks to crush it and cooked it in a pot. Or they ground it into flour and made thin cakes with it. The cakes tasted like sweet cakes cooked with olive oil. 9The manna fell on the ground each night when the ground became wet with dew.)
10Moses heard the people complaining. People from every family were sitting by their tents and complaining. The Lord became very angry, and this made Moses very upset. 11He asked the Lord, “Why did you bring this trouble on me? I am your servant. What did I do wrong? What did I do to upset you? Why did you give me responsibility over all these people? 12You know that I am not the father of all these people. You know that I did not give birth to them. But I must take care of them, like a nurse carrying a baby in her arms. Why do you force me to do this? Why do you force me to carry them to the land that you promised to our fathers? 13I don’t have enough meat for all these people! And they continue complaining to me. They say, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ 14I cannot take care of all these people alone. The burden is too heavy for me. 15If you plan to continue giving me their troubles, kill me now. If you accept me as your servant, let me die now. Then I will be finished with all my troubles!”
16The Lord said to Moses, “Bring to me 70 of the elders of Israel. These men are the leaders among the people. Bring them to the Meeting Tent. Let them stand there with you. 17Then I will come down and speak with you there. The Spirit#11:17 Spirit Or “spirit.” Also in verses 25, 29. is on you now. But I will also give some of that Spirit to them. Then they will help you take care of the people. In this way you will not have to be responsible for these people alone.
18“Tell the people this: Make yourselves ready for tomorrow. Tomorrow you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you cried out and said, ‘We need meat to eat! It was better for us in Egypt!’ So now the Lord will give you meat. And you will eat it. 19You will eat it for more than one, or two, or five, or ten, or even twenty days! 20You will eat that meat for a whole month until you are sick of it. This will happen to you because you complained against the Lord. He lives among you and knows what you need, but you cried and complained to him! You said, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’”
21Moses said, “There are 600,000 soldiers here, and you say, ‘I will give them enough meat to eat for a whole month!’ 22If we were to kill all the sheep and cattle, that would still not be enough to feed this many people for a month. And if we caught all the fish in the sea, it would not be enough for them!”
23But the Lord said to Moses, “Don’t limit my power! You will see that I can do what I say I can do.”
24So Moses went out to speak with the people. He told them what the Lord said. Then he gathered 70 of the elders together and told them to stand around the Tent. 25Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. He put on the 70 elders some of the same Spirit that was on Moses. After the Spirit came down on them, they began to prophesy.#11:25 prophesy Usually this means “to speak for God.” But here, it might mean that God’s Spirit took control of these men in some special way. Also in verse 26. But that was the only time they ever did this.
26Two of the elders, Eldad and Medad, did not go out to the Tent. Their names were on the list of elders, but they stayed in camp. But the Spirit also came on them, and they began prophesying in camp. 27A young man ran and told Moses. The man said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in camp.”
28Joshua son of Nun said to Moses, “Moses, sir, you must stop them!” (Joshua had been Moses’ helper since Joshua was a boy.)
29But Moses answered, “Are you afraid the people will think that I am not the leader now? I wish that all the Lord’s people were able to prophesy. I wish that the Lord would put his Spirit on all of them!” 30Then Moses and the leaders of Israel went back to the camp.
The Quail Come
31Then the Lord made a powerful wind to blow in from the sea, and it blew quail into the area all around the camp. There were so many birds that the ground was covered. They were about three feet deep on the ground. There were quail in every direction as far as a man can walk in one day. 32They went out and gathered quail all that day and all that night. And they gathered quail all the next day too! The smallest amount anyone gathered was 60 bushels. Then the people spread the quail meat all around the camp to dry in the sun.
33People began to eat the meat, but the Lord became very angry. While the meat was still in their mouths, before the people could finish eating it, the Lord caused the people to become very sick and die. 34So the people named that place Kibroth Hattaavah,#11:34 Kibroth Hattaavah This name means “Graves of Strong Desire.” because there they buried those who had the strong desire for meat.
35From Kibroth Hattaavah the people traveled to Hazeroth and stayed there.
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
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,#Ex 22:24; 32:10–11; Nm 11:1,33; 32:13; Dt 6:15 and fire#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#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#Ex 12:38 had a strong craving#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,#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#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.#Ex 16:13–14
10Moses heard the people, family after family, weeping at the entrance of their tents. The Lord was very angry;#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?#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,’#Is 40:11; 66:11–12 to the land that you swore to give their ancestors?#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#Ex 32:32; Jb 6:9; 7:15–16 if I have found favor with you, and#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.#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.#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? ’” #Ex 17:3
21But Moses replied, “I’m in the middle of a people with six hundred thousand foot soldiers,#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?” #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#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.#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,#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?#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#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.#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#2Sm 17:19; Ezk 26:5,14
33While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the Lord’s anger burned#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.#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#Nm 12:16; 33:16–17 and remained there.
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