Numbers 11

¹ The people became like complainers, evil in the ears of Yahweh. Yahweh hearkened and His anger grew hot, and the fire of Yahweh consumed some among them and devoured the outmost part of the camp. ² Then the people cried to Moses, so Moses prayed to Yahweh, and the fire was drowned. ³ He called the name of that place Taberah, for the fire of Yahweh had consumed some among them. ⁴ The rabble which was among them lusted after yearning; and again the sons of Israel lamented also and said: "Who shall give us flesh to eat? ⁵ We remember the fish which we ate in Egypt gratuitously, the cucumbers and the melons, the leeks, the onions and the garlic! ⁶ Yet now our soul's desire is dry; there is nothing at all barring the manna before our eyes." ⁷ Now the manna, it was like coriander seed and its sparkle was like the sparkle of a pearl. ⁸ The people went to and fro, and picked it up, ground it between millstones or crushed it in a crusher, cooked it in a kettle and made ember cakes from it. Its taste was like the taste of cakes fresh with oil. ⁹ At the descent of the night-mist on the camp at night the manna descended on it. ¹⁰ Moses heard the people lamenting by its families, each man at the opening of his tent. And the anger of Yahweh grew exceedingly hot, and in the eyes of Moses it was evil. ¹¹ Moses said to Yahweh: "Why have You dealt evil to Your servant? And why have I not found grace in Your eyes that You placed the load of all this people on me? ¹² Was I myself pregnant with all this people, or did I generate it, that You should say to me: Carry it in your bosom just as a foster-father carries a suckling child, to the ground about which You had sworn to their fathers? ¹³ From where would I find flesh to give to all this people? For they are lamenting to me, saying: Do give us flesh and let us eat. ¹⁴ I am not able, by myself alone, to bear all this people, for it is too heavy for me. ¹⁵ So if thus You are doing to me, kill me, I pray, yea kill me. If I have found grace in Your eyes then do not let me see Your evil." ¹⁶ Yahweh said to Moses: "Do gather to me seventy men from the elders of Israel of whom you know that they are elders of the people and their superintendents, and take them to the tent of appointment that they station themselves there with you. ¹⁷ I will descend and speak with you there; and I will divert some of the spirit which is on you and place it on them. They will bear the load of the people with you so that you are not bearing it by yourself alone. ¹⁸ And to the people you shall say: Sanctify yourselves for the morrow, when you will eat flesh, for you lamented in the ears of Yahweh, saying: Who shall give us flesh to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt. Now Yahweh will give you flesh, and you will eat. ¹⁹ Not just one day shall you eat, nor two days nor five days nor ten days nor twenty days. ²⁰ Unto a month of days shall you eat until it comes forth from your nostrils and becomes odious to you because you rejected Yahweh Who is among you and lamented before Him, saying: Why is this that we came forth from Egypt?" ²¹ Moses said: "Six hundred thousand men on foot are the people among whom I am, yet You say: Flesh shall I give to them, and they will eat it for a month of days! ²² Shall the flock and the herd be slain for them to provide for them, or all the fish of the sea be gathered for them to provide for them?" ²³ And Yahweh said to Moses: "The hand of Yahweh, is it short? Now shall you see whether My word shall happen to you or not." ²⁴ Moses went forth and spoke to the people the words of Yahweh. And he gathered seventy men from the elders of the people and stood them around the tent. ²⁵ Yahweh descended in a cloud and spoke to him. He caused some of the spirit which was on him to divert, and He put it on the seventy men, the elders. And it came to be as the spirit rested on them that they prophesied, yet they did not do so again. ²⁶ Yet two men remained in the camp; the name of the one was Eldad and the name of the second Medad. The spirit also rested on them. Now they had been among those listed but had not gone forth toward the tent; yet they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷ Now a youth ran and told Moses and said: "Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!" ²⁸ Joshua son of Nun, minister of Moses from his prime, answered and said: "My lord Moses, forbid them!" ²⁹ Yet Moses said to him: "Are you zealous for my sake? O that all the people of Yahweh were prophets! For Yahweh put His spirit on them." ³⁰ Then Moses was gathered to the camp, he and the elders of Israel. ³¹ A wind journeyed from Yahweh and sheered quail from the sea and let go of them over the camp about a day's way thus and a day's way thus around the camp, and they fell about two cubits deep over the surface of the earth. ³² The people rose all that day, all the night and all the morrow and gathered the quail. The least anyone gathered was ten homers. And they spread out the quail for themselves as a spreading round about the camp. ³³ The flesh was still between their teeth, ere it was cut off, when the anger of Yahweh grew hot against the people; and Yahweh smote among the people with a very great smiting. ³⁴ One called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah, for there they entombed the people, the lusters. ³⁵ From Kibroth Hattaavah the people journeyed to Hazeroth. When they came to be in Hazeroth