Numbers, 11

1. Now the people began to complain, which was offensive to Yahweh's ears. When Yahweh heard, his anger was aroused and the fire of Yahweh broke out among them; it devoured one end of the camp.

1. And [when] the people complained, it displeased the LORD: and the LORD heard [it]; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the LORD burnt among them, and consumed [them that were] in the uttermost parts of the camp.

2. The people appealed to Moses who interceded with Yahweh and the fire died down.

2. And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto the LORD, the fire was quenched.

3. So the place was called Taberah, because the fire of Yahweh had broken out among them.

3. And he called the name of the place Taberah: because the fire of the LORD burnt among them.

4. The rabble who had joined the people were feeling the pangs of hunger, and the Israelites began to weep again. 'Who will give us meat to eat?' they said.

4. And the mixt multitude that [was] among them fell a lusting: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?

5. 'Think of the fish we used to eat free in Egypt, the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic!

5. We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:

6. But now we are withering away; there is nothing wherever we look except this manna!'

6. But now our soul [is] dried away: [there is] nothing at all, beside this manna, [before] our eyes.

7. The manna was like coriander seed and had the appearance of bdellium.

7. And the manna [was] as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the colour of bdellium.

8. The people went round gathering it, and ground it in a mill or crushed it with a pestle; it was then cooked in a pot and made into pancakes. It tasted like cake made with oil.

8. [And] the people went about, and gathered [it], and ground [it] in mills, or beat [it] in a mortar, and baked [it] in pans, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.

9. When the dew fell on the camp at night-time, the manna fell with it.

9. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.

10. Moses heard the people weeping, each family at the door of its tent. Yahweh's anger was greatly aroused; Moses too found it disgraceful,

10. Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent: and the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly; Moses also was displeased.

11. and he said to Yahweh: 'Why do you treat your servant so badly? In what respect have I failed to win your favour, for you to lay the burden of all these people on me?

11. And Moses said unto the LORD, Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me?

12. Was it I who conceived all these people, was I their father, for you to say to me, "Carry them in your arms, like a foster-father carrying an unweaned child, to the country which I swore to give their fathers"?

12. Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers?

13. Where am I to find meat to give all these people, pestering me with their tears and saying, "Give us meat to eat"?

13. Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they weep unto me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.

14. I cannot carry all these people on my own; the weight is too much for me.

14. I am not able to bear all this people alone, because [it is] too heavy for me.

15. If this is how you mean to treat me, please kill me outright! If only I could win your favour and be spared the sight of my misery!'

15. And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.

16. Yahweh said to Moses, 'Collect me seventy of the elders of Israel, men you know to be the people's elders and scribes. Bring them to the Tent of Meeting, and let them stand beside you there.

16. And the LORD said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them unto the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee.

17. I shall come down and talk to you there and shall take some of the spirit which is on you and put it on them. Then they will bear the burden of the people with you, and you will no longer have to bear it on your own.

17. And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the spirit which [is] upon thee, and will put [it] upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear [it] not thyself alone.

18. 'And say to the people, "Purify yourselves for tomorrow and you will have meat to eat, since you have wept in Yahweh's hearing, saying: Who will give us meat to eat? How happy we were in Egypt! Very well, Yahweh will give you meat to eat.

18. And say thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to morrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for [it was] well with us in Egypt: therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and ye shall eat.

19. You will eat it not for one day, or two, or five, or ten or twenty,

19. Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days;

20. but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and sickens you, since you have rejected Yahweh who is among you, and have wept before him saying: Why did we ever leave Egypt?" '

20. [But] even a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have despised the LORD which [is] among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt?

21. Moses said, 'The people round me number six hundred thousand foot soldiers, and you say, "I shall give them meat to eat for a whole month"!

21. And Moses said, The people, among whom I [am], [are] six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.

22. If all the flocks and herds were slaughtered, would that be enough for them? If all the fish in the seas were collected, would that be enough for them?'

22. Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice them?

23. Yahweh said to Moses, 'Is the arm of Yahweh so short? You shall see whether the promise I have made to you comes true or not.'

23. And the LORD said unto Moses, Is the LORD'S hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not.

24. Moses went out and told the people what Yahweh had said. Then he collected seventy of the people's elders and stationed them round the Tent.

24. And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the LORD, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the tabernacle.

25. Yahweh descended in the cloud. He spoke to him and took some of the spirit that was on him and put it on the seventy elders. When the spirit came on them they prophesied -- but only once.

25. And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that [was] upon him, and gave [it] unto the seventy elders: and it came to pass, [that], when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.

26. Two men had stayed back in the camp; one was called Eldad and the other Medad. The spirit came down on them; though they had not gone to the Tent, their names were enrolled among the rest. These began to prophesy in the camp.

26. But there remained two [of the] men in the camp, the name of the one [was] Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they [were] of them that were written, but went not out unto the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp.

27. A young man ran to tell Moses this. 'Look,' he said, 'Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.'

27. And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp.

28. Joshua son of Nun, who had served Moses since he was a boy, spoke up and said, 'My lord Moses, stop them!'

28. And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, [one] of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.

29. Moses replied, 'Are you jealous on my account? If only all Yahweh's people were prophets, and Yahweh had given them his spirit!'

29. And Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD'S people were prophets, [and] that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!

30. Moses then went back to the camp with the elders of Israel.

30. And Moses gat him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.

31. A wind, sent by Yahweh, started blowing from the sea bringing quails which it deposited on the camp. They lay for a distance of a day's march either side of the camp, two cubits thick on the ground.

31. And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quails from the sea, and let [them] fall by the camp, as it were a day's journey on this side, and as it were a day's journey on the other side, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits [high] upon the face of the earth.

32. The people were up all that day and night and all the next day collecting quails: the least gathered by anyone was ten homer; then they spread them out round the camp.

32. And the people stood up all that day, and all [that] night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread [them] all abroad for themselves round about the camp.

33. The meat was still between their teeth, not even chewed, when Yahweh's anger was aroused by the people. Yahweh struck them with a very great plague.

33. And while the flesh [was] yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague.

34. The name given to this place was Kibroth-ha-Taavah, because it was there that they buried the people who had indulged their greed.

34. And he called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted.

35. From Kibroth-ha-Taavah the people set out for Hazeroth, and at Hazeroth they pitched camp.

35. [And] the people journeyed from Kibrothhattaavah unto Hazeroth; and abode at Hazeroth.