1The people weren’t happy about the hard times they were having. The LORD heard what they were saying. It made him very angry. Then the LORD sent fire on them. It blazed out among the people. It burned some of the outer edges of the camp.2The people cried out to Moses. Then he prayed to the LORD. And the fire died down.3So that place was named Taberah. That’s because fire from the LORD had blazed out among them there.
The Lord sends quail for the people to eat
4Some people with them began to wish for other food. Again the Israelites began to cry out. They said, ‘We wish we had meat to eat.5We remember the fish we ate in Egypt. It didn’t cost us anything. We also remember the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.6But now we’ve lost all interest in eating. We never see anything but this manna!’7The manna was like coriander seeds. It looked like sap from a tree.8The people went around gathering it. Then they ground it up in a small mill they held in their hands. Or they crushed it in a stone bowl. They cooked it in a pot. Or they made loaves out of it. It tasted like something made with olive oil.9When the dew came down on the camp at night, the manna also came down.10Moses heard people from every family crying at the entrances to their tents. The LORD became very angry. So Moses became upset.11He asked the LORD, ‘Why have you brought this trouble on me? Why aren’t you pleased with me? Why have you loaded me down with the troubles of all these people?12Am I like a mother to them? Are they my children? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms? Do I have to carry them the way a nurse carries a baby? Do I have to carry them to the land you promised? You promised the land to their people of long ago.13Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep crying out to me. They say, “Give us meat to eat!”14I can’t carry all these people by myself. The load is too heavy for me.15Is this how you are going to treat me? If you are pleased with me, just put me to death right now. Don’t let me live if I have to see myself destroyed anyway.’16The LORD said to Moses, ‘Bring me 70 of Israel’s elders. Bring men that you know are leaders and officials among the people. Let them come to the tent of meeting. I want them to stand there with you.17I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you. And I will put it on them. They will share the responsibility of these people with you. Then you will not have to carry it alone.18‘Tell the people, “Set yourselves apart for tomorrow. At that time you will eat meat. The LORD heard you when you cried out. You said, ‘We wish we had meat to eat. We were better off in Egypt.’ Now the LORD will give you meat. And you will eat it.19You will not eat it for just one or two days. You will not eat it for just five, ten or 20 days.20Instead, you will eat it for a whole month. You will eat it until it comes out of your noses. You will eat it until you hate it. The LORD is among you. But you have turned your back on him. You have cried out while he was listening. You have said, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’ ” ’21But Moses said to the LORD, ‘Here I am among 600,000 men on the march. And you say, “I will give them meat to eat for a whole month”!22Would they have enough if flocks and herds were killed for them? Would they have enough even if all the fish in the ocean were caught for them?’23The LORD answered Moses, ‘Am I not strong enough? Now you will see whether what I say will come true for you.’24So Moses went out. He told the people what the LORD had said. He gathered 70 of their elders together. He had them stand around the tent of meeting.25Then the LORD came down in the cloud. He spoke with Moses. He took some of the power of the Spirit that was on Moses. And he put it on the 70 elders. When the Spirit came on them, they prophesied. But they didn’t do it again.26Two men had remained in the camp. Their names were Eldad and Medad. They were listed among the elders. But they didn’t go out to the tent of meeting. In spite of that, the Spirit came on them too. So they prophesied in the camp.27A young man ran up to Moses. He said, ‘Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.’28Joshua spoke up. He was the son of Nun. Joshua had been Moses’ helper from the time he was young. He said, ‘Moses! Please stop them!’29But Moses replied, ‘Are you jealous for me? I wish that all the LORD’s people were prophets. And I wish that the LORD would put his Spirit on them.’30Then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.31The LORD sent out a wind. It drove quail in from the Red Sea. It scattered them all around the camp. They were about a metre above the ground. They could be seen in every direction as far as a person could walk in a day.32The people went out all day and gathered quail. They gathered them all night and all the next day. No one gathered less than 2 tonnes. Then they spread the quail out all around the camp.33But while the meat was still in their mouths, the LORD acted. Before the people could swallow it, he became very angry with them. He struck them with a terrible plague.34So the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah. That’s where the bodies of the people who had wished for other food were buried.35From Kibroth Hattaavah the people travelled to Hazeroth. And they stayed there.
Numbers 11
English Standard Version
The People Complain
1And the people complained in the hearing of the Lord about their misfortunes, and when the Lord heard it, his anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and consumed some outlying parts of the camp. (Le 10:2; Nu 16:35; De 9:22; 2Ki 1:12; Ps 78:21; Ps 106:18; Re 13:13)2Then the people cried out to Moses, and Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. (Nu 16:45; Nu 21:7; Jas 5:16)3So the name of that place was called Taberah,[1] because the fire of the Lord burned among them. (De 9:22)4Now the rabble that was among them had a strong craving. And the people of Israel also wept again and said, “Oh that we had meat to eat! (Ex 12:38; Nu 14:1; Ps 78:18; Ps 106:14; 1Co 10:6)5We remember the fish we ate in Egypt that cost nothing, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic. (Ex 16:3; Nu 21:5; Ac 7:39)6But now our strength is dried up, and there is nothing at all but this manna to look at.”7Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of bdellium. (Ex 16:14; Ex 16:31)8The people went about and gathered it and ground it in handmills or beat it in mortars and boiled it in pots and made cakes of it. And the taste of it was like the taste of cakes baked with oil. (Ex 16:16; Ex 16:31)9When the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell with it. (Ex 16:13)10Moses heard the people weeping throughout their clans, everyone at the door of his tent. And the anger of the Lord blazed hotly, and Moses was displeased. (Zec 12:12)11Moses said to the Lord, “Why have you dealt ill with your servant? And why have I not found favor in your sight, that you lay the burden of all this people on me? (1Ki 19:4; Jon 4:1; Jon 4:9)12Did I conceive all this people? Did I give them birth, that you should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing child,’ to the land that you swore to give their fathers? (Ge 50:24; Ex 13:5; De 1:31; Isa 40:11; Isa 49:23; 1Th 2:7)13Where am I to get meat to give to all this people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, that we may eat.’ (2Ki 7:2; Mt 15:33; Mr 8:4; Joh 6:7; Joh 6:9)14I am not able to carry all this people alone; the burden is too heavy for me. (Ex 18:18; De 1:9; De 1:12)15If you will treat me like this, kill me at once, if I find favor in your sight, that I may not see my wretchedness.”
Elders Appointed to Aid Moses
16Then the Lord said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be the elders of the people and officers over them, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. (Ex 24:1; Ex 24:9; De 1:15; De 16:18)17And I will come down and talk with you there. And I will take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you may not bear it yourself alone. (Ge 11:5; Ge 18:21; Ex 18:22; Ex 19:20; Nu 11:25; Nu 12:5; 2Ki 2:9; 2Ki 2:15; Ne 9:20)18And say to the people, ‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat, for you have wept in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was better for us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat. (Ex 19:10; Nu 11:5)19You shall not eat just one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days,20but a whole month, until it comes out at your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you, because you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before him, saying, “Why did we come out of Egypt?”’” (Nu 21:5; Ps 78:29; Ps 106:15)21But Moses said, “The people among whom I am number six hundred thousand on foot, and you have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat a whole month!’ (Ex 12:37; Ex 38:26; Nu 1:46)22Shall flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, and be enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, and be enough for them?” (Nu 11:13)23And the Lord said to Moses, “Is the Lord’s hand shortened? Now you shall see whether my word will come true for you or not.” (Nu 23:19; Isa 50:2; Isa 59:1; Eze 12:25; Eze 24:14)24So Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. And he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and placed them around the tent. (Nu 11:16)25Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him, and took some of the Spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. And as soon as the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied. But they did not continue doing it. (Nu 11:17)26Now two men remained in the camp, one named Eldad, and the other named Medad, and the Spirit rested on them. They were among those registered, but they had not gone out to the tent, and so they prophesied in the camp. (1Sa 20:26; Jer 36:5)27And a young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”28And Joshua the son of Nun, the assistant of Moses from his youth, said, “My lord Moses, stop them.” (Ex 24:13; Nu 13:8; Nu 13:16; Nu 26:65; Mr 9:38; Lu 9:49)29But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? Would that all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put his Spirit on them!” (1Co 14:5)30And Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.
Quail and a Plague
31Then a wind from the Lord sprang up, and it brought quail from the sea and let them fall beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side, around the camp, and about two cubits[2] above the ground. (Ex 16:13; Ps 78:26; Ps 105:40)32And the people rose all that day and all night and all the next day, and gathered the quail. Those who gathered least gathered ten homers.[3] And they spread them out for themselves all around the camp. (Ex 16:36; Eze 45:11)33While the meat was yet between their teeth, before it was consumed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck down the people with a very great plague. (Nu 16:49; Ps 78:30)34Therefore the name of that place was called Kibroth-hattaavah,[4] because there they buried the people who had the craving. (De 9:22)35From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth, and they remained at Hazeroth. (Nu 12:16; Nu 33:17)