Numbers 11

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BBE

The burning at Taberah

Now the people were saying evil against the Lord; and the Lord, hearing it, was angry and sent fire on them, burning the outer parts of the tent-circle.

So that place was named Taberah, because of the fire of the Lord which had been burning among them.

The people lust for flesh, and loathe the manna

And the mixed band of people who went with them were overcome by desire: and the children of Israel, weeping again, said, Who will give us flesh for our food?

Sweet is the memory of the fish we had in Egypt for nothing, and the fruit and green plants of every sort, sharp and pleasing to the taste:

But now our soul is wasted away; there is nothing at all: we have nothing but this manna before our eyes.

Now the manna was like a seed of grain, like small clear drops.

The people went about taking it up from the earth, crushing it between stones or hammering it to powder, and boiling it in pots, and they made cakes of it: its taste was like the taste of cakes cooked with oil.

When the dew came down on the tents at night, the manna came down with it.

Moses makes complaint about his charge

And at the sound of the people weeping, every man at his tent-door, the wrath of the Lord was great, and Moses was very angry.

And Moses said to the Lord, Why have you done me this evil? and why have I not grace in your eyes, that you have put on me the care of all this people?

Am I the father of all this people? have I given them birth, that you say to me, Take them in your arms, like a child at the breast, to the land which you gave by an oath to their fathers?

Where am I to get flesh to give to all this people? For they are weeping to me and saying, Give us flesh for our food.

I am not able by myself to take the weight of all this people, for it is more than my strength.

If this is to be my fate, put me to death now in answer to my prayer, if I have grace in your eyes; and let me not see my shame.

Elders given to divide the charge. Flesh meat promised

And the Lord said to Moses, Send for seventy of the responsible men of Israel, who are in your opinion men of weight and authority over the people; make them come to the Tent of meeting and be there with you.

And I will come down and have talk with you there: and I will take some of the spirit which is on you and put it on them, and they will take part of the weight of the people off you, so that you do not have to take it by yourself.

And say to the people, Make yourselves clean before tomorrow and you will have flesh for your food: for in the ears of the Lord you have been weeping and saying, Who will give us flesh for food? for we were well off in Egypt: and so the Lord will give you flesh, and it will be your food;

Not for one day only, or even for five or ten or twenty days;

But every day for a month, till you are tired of it, turning from it in disgust: because you have gone against the Lord who is with you, and have been weeping before him saying, Why did we come out of Egypt?

Then Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand men on foot; and you have said, I will give them flesh to be their food for a month.

Are flocks and herds to be put to death for them? or are all the fish in the sea to be got together so that they may be full?

And the Lord said to Moses, Has the Lord's hand become short? Now you will see if my word comes true for you or not.

The Spirit rests on the elders

And Moses went out and gave the people the words of the Lord: and he took seventy of the responsible men of the people, placing them round the Tent.

Then the Lord came down in the cloud and had talk with him, and put on the seventy men some of the spirit which was on him: now when the spirit came to rest on them, they were like prophets, but only at that time.

But two men were still in the tent-circle one of them named Eldad and the other Medad: and the spirit came to rest on them; they were among those who had been sent for, but they had not gone out to the Tent: and the prophet's power came on them in the tent-circle.

And a young man went running to Moses and said, Eldad and Medad are acting as prophets in the tent-circle.

Then Joshua, the son of Nun, who had been Moses' servant from the time when he was a child, said, My lord Moses, let them be stopped.

And Moses said to him, Are you moved by envy on my account? If only all the Lord's people were prophets, and the Lord might put his spirit on them!

Then Moses, with the responsible men of Israel, went back to the tent-circle.

Quails are given

Then the Lord sent a wind, driving little birds from the sea, so that they came down on the tents, and all round the tent-circle, about a day's journey on this side and on that, in masses about two cubits high over the face of the earth.

And all that day and all night and the day after, the people were taking up the birds; the smallest amount which anyone got was ten homers: and they put them out all round the tents.

But while the meat was still between their teeth, before it was tasted, the wrath of the Lord was moved against the people and he sent a great outburst of disease on them.

So that place was named Kibroth-hattaavah; because there they put in the earth the bodies of the people who had given way to their desires.

From Kibroth-hattaavah the people went on to Hazeroth; and there they put up their tents.

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