Numbers 11
Would That All the Lord’s People Were Prophets
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Fire at Taberah
11:1The people were grumbling evil things before the Lord. The Lord heard and was stirred to anger; fire from the Lord blazed among them and consumed a part of the camp.
11:2The people cried out to Moses. Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down.
11:3That place was named Burning, because fire from the Lord had blazed among them.
Israel Demands Provisions
11:4The mixed company among them craved intensely, and the Israelites too sat down and wept, saying, “Who will feed us meat?”
11:5“We remember the fish we ate in Egypt for nothing, the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.
11:6But now our life is parched; our eyes see nothing except the manna.”
11:7The manna is like coriander seed, and its appearance is like crystal.
11:8The people went about and gathered it, ground it in the mill, crushed it in the mortar, boiled it in the pot, and made cakes baked in ashes. Its pleasant taste was like a cake made with oil.
11:9When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna fell upon it.
Moses’ Crisis of Leadership
11:10Moses heard them weeping by their groups, each at his doorway. The Lord was stirred to great anger, and it was evil in Moses’ sight.
11:11Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You treated Your attendant badly? Why have I not found favor before You, that You place the onrush of this people upon me?
11:12Did I conceive all this people? Did I give birth to them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your bosom, as a nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land You swore to their fathers’?
11:13Where can I get meat to give all this people? For they weep before me, saying, ‘Give us meat to eat!’
11:14I shall not be able to carry this people alone, because this matter is too heavy for me.
11:15If this is how You treat me, kill me outright, if I have found mercy with You, so that I may not see my misery.”
The Divine Solution
11:16The Lord said to Moses, “Gather for Me seventy men from Israel’s elders, whom you yourself know to be elders of the people and their scribes. Bring them to the Tent of Testimony, and they shall stand there with you.
11:17I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the Spirit that is upon you and put it upon them. They will help you bear the onrush of the people, and you will not carry them alone.
11:18Say to the people, ‘Purify yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat. You have wept before the Lord, saying, “Who will feed us meat? Things are good for us in Egypt!” The Lord will give you meat to eat, and you shall eat meat.
11:19You shall eat it not for one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days,
11:20You shall eat it for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and gives you a bilious sickness, because you disobeyed the Lord who is among you and wept before Him, saying, “Why did we leave Egypt?”’”
11:21Moses said, “The people among whom I am number six hundred thousand on foot, yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat to eat, and they shall eat for a whole month.’
11:22Could sheep and cattle be slaughtered for them and be enough? Could all the food of the sea be gathered for them and be enough?”
11:23The Lord said to Moses, “Will the Lord’s hand not suffice? Now you will know whether My word overtakes you or not.”
The Spirit and the Seventy Elders
11:24Moses went out and told the people the Lord’s words. He gathered seventy men from the elders of the people and stationed them around the tent.
11:25The Lord came down in a cloud and spoke to him. He took some of the Spirit that was upon him and put it upon the seventy men, the elders. When the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not do so again.
11:26Two men were left in the camp: one was named Eldad and the other Medad. The Spirit rested upon them. They were among those enrolled, but had not come to the tent; they prophesied in the camp.
11:27The young man ran up and reported to Moses, saying, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp!”
11:28Joshua son of Nun, the chosen attendant of Moses, answered, “My lord Moses, prevent them!”
11:29Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for me? Who would make all the Lord’s people prophets, when the Lord gives His Spirit upon them?”
11:30Moses returned to the camp, he and the elders of Israel.
The Quail and the Plague
11:31A wind went out from the Lord and carried quail across from the sea. It cast them upon the camp, a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on that side, around the camp, about two cubits above the ground.
11:32The people rose all that day, all night, and all the following day and gathered quail. Whoever gathered least gathered ten kors, and they cooled them for themselves in cooling places around the camp.
11:33The meat was still between their teeth, before it was gone, when the Lord grew angry against the people and struck the people with a very great plague.
11:34That place was named Graves of Craving, because there they buried the people who had craved.
11:35From Graves of Craving the people set out for Hazeroth, and the people were at Hazeroth.
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Saints Translation · Liturgical reading edition · V1 · working draft awaiting specialist review.