² Then the people cried out to Moses, and he prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. ³ So that place was named Taberah,^[a](A) because the Lord’s fire had blazed among them.

Complaints about Food

⁴ Contemptible people^[b] among them^(B) had a strong craving^(C) for other food. The Israelites cried again and said, “Who will feed us meat? ⁵ We remember the free fish we ate in Egypt,^(D) along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. ⁶ But now our appetite is gone;^[c] there’s nothing to look at but this manna!”

⁷ The manna^(E) resembled coriander seed, and its appearance was like that of bdellium.^{[d] 8} The people walked around and gathered it. They ground it on a pair of grinding stones or crushed it in a mortar, then boiled it in a cooking pot and shaped it into cakes. It tasted like a pastry cooked with the finest oil. ⁹ When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it.^(F)

¹⁰ Moses heard the people, family after family, crying at the entrance of their tents. The Lord was very angry;^(G) Moses was also provoked.^{[e] 11} So Moses asked the Lord, “Why have You brought such trouble on Your servant? Why are You angry with me, and why do You burden me with all these people?^{(H) 12} Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth so You should tell me, ‘Carry them at your breast, as a nursing woman carries a baby,’^(I) to the land that You^[f] swore to give their fathers?^{(J) 13} Where can I get meat to give all these people? For they are crying to me: ‘Give us meat to eat!’ ¹⁴ I can’t carry all these people by myself. They are too much for me. ¹⁵ If You are going to treat me like this, please kill me right now.^(K) If You are pleased with me,^(L) don’t let me see my misery^[g] anymore.”

Seventy Elders Anointed

¹⁶ The Lord answered Moses, “Bring Me 70 men from Israel known to you as elders and officers of the people. Take them to the tent of meeting and have them stand there with you. ¹⁷ Then I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the Spirit who is on you and put the Spirit on them.^(M) They will help you bear the burden of the people, so that you do not have to bear it by yourself.^(N)

¹⁸ “Tell the people: Purify yourselves in readiness for tomorrow, and you will eat meat because you cried before the Lord: ‘Who will feed us meat? We really had it good in Egypt.’ The Lord will give you meat and you will eat. ¹⁹ You will eat, not for one day, or two days, or five days, or 10 days, or 20 days,

⁷ The people then came to Moses and said, “We have sinned by speaking against the Lord and against you. Intercede with the Lord so that He will take the snakes away from us.” And Moses interceded for the people.

⁸ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Make a snake image and mount it on a pole. When anyone who is bitten looks at it, he will recover.”^{(A) 9} So Moses made a bronze snake and mounted it on a pole. Whenever someone was bitten, and he looked at the bronze snake, he recovered.