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
Bemiḏbar (Numbers) 11
11
1And it came to be, when the people were as complainers, it was evil in the ears of יהוה. And יהוה heard it, and His displeasure burned. And the fire of יהוה burned among them, and consumed those in the outskirts of the camp.
2And the people cried out to Mosheh, and Mosheh prayed to יהוה, and the fire died down.
3Then he called the name of the place Taḇ‛ĕrah, because the fire of יהוה had burned among them.
4And the mixed multitude who were in their midst lusted greatly, so the children of Yisra’ĕl also wept again and said, “Who is giving us meat to eat?
5“We remember the fish which we ate without cost in Mitsrayim, the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic,
6but now our being is dried up. There is naught to look at but this manna!”
7Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like the appearance of bdellium.
8The people went about and gathered it, ground it on millstones or beat it in the mortar, and cooked it in a pot, and made cakes of it. And its taste was as the taste of cakes baked with oil.
9And when the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna fell on it.
10And Mosheh heard the people weeping throughout their clans, each man at the door of his tent. And the displeasure of יהוה burned exceedingly. And in the eyes of Mosheh it was evil,
11so Mosheh said to יהוה, “Why have You done evil to Your servant? And why have I not found favour in Your eyes, to put the burden of all these people on me?
12“Was it I who conceived all these people? Was it I who brought them forth, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as the foster father carries a nursing child,’ to the land which You swore to their fathers?
13Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep before me, saying, ‘Give us meat to eat.’ ”
14“I am unable to bear all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me.
15“And if You are doing this to me, kill me – please kill me, if I have found favour in Your eyes, and let me not see my evil!”
16Then יהוה said to Mosheh, “Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Yisra’ĕl, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them. And bring them to the Tent of Appointment, and let them stand there with you.
17“And I shall come down and speak with you there, and shall take of the Spirit that is on you, and put on them. And they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you do not bear it yourself alone.
18“And say to the people, ‘Set yourselves apart for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, because you have wept in the hearing of יהוה, saying, “Who is giving us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Mitsrayim.” And יהוה shall give you meat, and you shall eat.
19You are going to eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days,
20but for a new moon#Or a month of days, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes an abomination to you, because you have rejected יהוה who is among you, and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we come up out of Mitsrayim?” ‘ ”
21And Mosheh said, “The people in whose midst I am are six hundred thousand men on foot, and You, You have said, ‘I give them meat to eat for a new moon#Or a month of days.’
22Could flocks and herds be slain for them, to be sufficient for them? Or could all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be sufficient for them?
23And יהוה said to Mosheh, “Is the arm of יהוה too short? Now see whether My word meets you or not!”
24And Mosheh went out and spoke to the people the words of יהוה, and he gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the Tent.
25And יהוה came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon the seventy elders. And it came to be, when the Spirit rested upon them, that they prophesied, but did not continue.
26However, two men had remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldaḏ, and the name of the other Mĕyḏaḏ. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among those listed, but did not go out to the Tent. And they prophesied in the camp.
27And a young man ran and informed Mosheh, and said, “Eldaḏ and Mĕyḏaḏ are prophesying in the camp.”
28And Yehoshua son of Nun, Mosheh’s assistant from his youth, answered and said, “Mosheh my master, forbid them!”
29Then Mosheh said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Oh, that all the people of יהוה were prophets, that יהוה would put His Spirit upon them!”
30And Mosheh returned to the camp, both he and the elders of Yisra’ĕl.
31And a wind went forth from יהוה, and it brought quail from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and about a day’s journey on the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of the ground.
32And the people were up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail. He who had least gathered ten ḥomers. And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp.
33The meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, and the wrath of יהוה burned against the people, and יהוה struck the people with an exceeding great plague.
34Then he called the name of that place Qiḇroth Hatta’awah, because there they buried the people who had lusted.
35From Qiḇroth Hatta’awah the people set out for Ḥatsĕroth – and they were at Ḥatsĕroth.
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