Chapter 11
1
And the people were complaining bitterly in the ears of the LORD, and the LORD heard, and his anger burned, and the fire of the LORD burned among them, and it consumed the edge of the camp.
2
And the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire subsided.
3
And he called that place Taberah because the fire of the LORD burned among them.
4
The rabble that was among them lusted with lust; and they sat and wept. Also the sons of Israel wept and said, "Who will give us meat to eat?"
5
We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt for free, the cucumbers and the melons and the leeks and the onions and the garlic.
6
But now our nephesh is dried up. There is nothing at all except the manna our eyes see.
7
And the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance was like the appearance of bdellium.
8
The people went out and gathered it, ground it in mills or beat it in a mortar, boiled it in pots, and made it into cakes, and its taste was like the taste of fresh oil.
9
And the dew descended upon the camp at night; the manna descended upon it.
10
And Moses heard the people weeping by their families, each man at the entrance of his tent, and the anger of the LORD burned greatly, and it was evil in the eyes of Moses.
11
And Moses said to the LORD, "Why have you done evil to your servant, and why have I not found grace in your eyes, that you should put the burden of all this people upon me?"
12
Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them? For you say to me, "Carry them in your bosom, as a nursing father carries the suckling child, to the land that you swore to their fathers."
13
Where can I get meat to give to all this people? For they weep to me, saying, "Give us meat and we will eat."
14
I am not able to bear all this people alone, for it is too heavy for me.
15
And if you do thus to me, please kill me here and now. If I have found grace in your eyes, let me not see my evil.
16
And the LORD said to Moses, "Gather to me seventy men from the elders of Israel whom you know that they are elders of the people and its officers, and take them to the tent of meeting, and they shall station themselves there with you."
17
I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take some of the Spirit who is on you and put it on them. They will bear the burden of the people with you, so you will not bear it alone.
18
And to the people you shall say, "Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, 'Who will make us eat meat? For it was good for us in Egypt.' And the LORD will give you meat, and you shall eat."
19
Not one day will you eat, not two days, not five days, not ten days, not twenty days.
20
until it comes out your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you rejected the LORD who is among you and wept before him, saying, "Why did we ever come out of Egypt?"
21
Moses said, "The people I am in the midst of number six hundred thousand footmen, and you have said, 'I will give flesh to them, and they will eat for a month of days.'"
22
Shall the flocks and cattle be slaughtered for them to suffice for them? Shall all the fish of the sea be gathered for them to suffice for them?
23
And the LORD said to Moses, "Is the hand of the LORD too short? Now you will see whether my word comes about or not."
24
And Moses went out and told the people the words of the LORD. He gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and stationed them around the tent.
25
And the LORD descended in the cloud and spoke to him and apportioned from the Spirit that was on him and gave it upon the seventy elders. And it was as the Spirit rested upon them and they prophesied and did not cease.
26
Two people remained in the camp. The name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other was Medad. The Spirit rested on them. They were among those written down, but they did not go out to the tent, and they prophesied in the camp.
27
The boy ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp."
28
Joshua son of Nun, who had been Moses' chosen servant, answered, "My lord Moses, restrain them."
29
And Moses said to him, "Are you jealous for me? Oh that all the people of the LORD were prophets, that the LORD would put his Spirit upon them!"
30
Moses and the elders of Israel gathered the people to the camp.
31
And a wind came from the LORD, and he brought quails from above the sea and let them fall over the camp for a day's journey this way and a day's journey that way around the camp, as deep as two cubits onto the face of the land.
32
And all the people arose that day and all the night and all the next day, and they gathered the quail—the one who gathered least gathered ten homers—and they spread them out around the camp.
33
The flesh was still between their teeth, uncooked, when the LORD burned against the people and struck them with a very great blow.
34
He called that place Graves of Craving, for there they buried the people who craved.
35
From the Graves of Craving the people journeyed to Hatserot, and they were at Hatserot.