NumbersChapter 11

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¹Soon the people began to complain about their hard times, and the LORD heard them. When he heard them, he became angry. Fire from the LORD burned among them. It burned up the edges of the camp. ²The people cried out to Moses. Moses prayed to the LORD, and the fire died down. ³So that place was named Taberah, because the LORD's fire had burned among them.a ⁴The mixed crowd of outsiders among them began to want other food very much. Then the Israelites started crying again. They said, "Who will give us meat to eat? ⁵We remember the fish we ate for free in Egypt. We remember the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. ⁶But now we've lost our appetite. We never see anything but this manna!" ⁷The manna looked like coriander seed. It was the color of gum resin. ⁸The people went around and gathered it. They ground it in a hand mill or crushed it with a stone bowl and club. Then they boiled it in a pot or made it into flat cakes. It tasted like pastry baked with fine oil. ⁹At night the dew fell on the camp. The manna would fall with it. ¹⁰Moses heard the people crying, family after family, at the doors of their tents. The LORD became very angry. Moses was upset too. ¹¹So Moses asked the LORD, "Why have you brought this trouble on me, your servant? Why aren't you pleased with me? Why have you put the load of all these people on me? ¹²Did I make all these people? Did I give birth to them? Is that why you tell me, 'Carry them in your arms, the way a nurse carries a baby'? Must I carry them all the way to the land you swore to give their fathers? ¹³Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep crying to me, 'Give us meat to eat!' ¹⁴I can't carry all these people by myself. The load is too heavy for me. ¹⁵If this is how you will treat me, please just kill me now, if you are pleased with me. Don't let me see how bad things are for me." ¹⁶Then the LORD said to Moses, "Bring me seventy of Israel's elders. Choose men you know are leaders and officers of the people. Bring them to the Tent of Meeting. Have them stand there with you. ¹⁷I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will help you carry the load of the people. Then you won't have to carry it alone. ¹⁸And tell the people this: 'Make yourselves holy for tomorrow. Then you will eat meat. This is because you cried where the LORD could hear you. You said, "Who will give us meat? We had it better in Egypt!" So the LORD will give you meat, and you will eat it. ¹⁹You won't eat it for just one or two days. You won't eat it for just five or ten or twenty days. ²⁰You will eat it for a whole month, until it comes out of your noses and makes you sick of it. This is because you have rejected the LORD, who is with you. You cried to him and said, "Why did we ever leave Egypt?"'" ²¹But Moses answered, "There are 600,000 men on foot here with me. And you say, 'I will give them meat, and they will eat it for a month.' ²²Would they have enough if all our flocks and herds were killed for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?" ²³The LORD answered Moses, "Is the LORD's arm too short? Now you will see if what I say will happen or not." ²⁴So Moses went out and told the people what the LORD had said. He gathered seventy of the people's elders. He had them stand around the tent. ²⁵Then the LORD came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. He took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on the seventy elders. When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they never did it again. ²⁶But two men had stayed in the camp. One was named Eldad, and the other was Medad. The Spirit rested on them too. Their names were on the list, but they had not gone out to the tent. They prophesied in the camp. ²⁷A young man ran and told Moses, "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!" ²⁸Joshua son of Nun had been Moses' helper since he was young. He spoke up and said, "Moses, my master, stop them!" ²⁹But Moses answered, "Are you jealous for my sake? I wish all the LORD's people were prophets! I wish the LORD would put his Spirit on all of them!" ³⁰Then Moses and the elders of Israel went back to the camp. ³¹Then the LORD sent a wind. It drove quail in from the sea and brought them down near the camp. They were about 3 feet above the ground. They covered the land for a day's walk in every direction around the camp.b ³²The people stayed up all that day and night and all the next day gathering quail. No one gathered less than ten homers. They spread the birds out all around the camp.c ³³But the meat was still between their teeth. They had not even chewed it yet. Then the LORD's anger burned against the people. He struck them with a terrible plague. ³⁴So that place was named Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people who had wanted other food so badly.d ³⁵From Kibroth-hattaavah the people moved on to Hazeroth. They stayed there for a while.