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11 And the people were as murmurers, [a]speaking evil in the ears of Jehovah: and when Jehovah heard it, his anger was kindled; and the fire of Jehovah burnt among them, and devoured in the uttermost part of the camp. And the people cried unto Moses; and Moses prayed unto Jehovah, and the fire abated. And the name of that place was called [b]Taberah, because the fire of Jehovah burnt among them.

And the mixed multitude that was among them lusted exceedingly: and the children of Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat? We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt for nought; the cucumbers, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic: but now our soul is dried away; there is nothing at all save this manna to look upon. And the manna was like coriander seed, and the [c]appearance thereof as the appearance of bdellium. The people went about, and gathered it, and ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars, and boiled it in pots, and made cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of [d]fresh oil. And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell [e]upon it. 10 And Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, every man at the door of his tent: and the anger of Jehovah was kindled greatly; and Moses was displeased. 11 And Moses said unto Jehovah, Wherefore hast thou dealt ill with thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favor in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me? 12 Have I conceived all this people? have I brought them forth, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing-father carrieth the sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers? 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 am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me. 15 And if thou deal thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favor in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.

16 And Jehovah 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 tent of meeting, that they may stand there with thee. 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 thou unto the people, Sanctify yourselves against to-morrow, and ye shall eat flesh; for ye have wept in the ears of Jehovah, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore Jehovah will give you flesh, and ye shall eat. 19 Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days, 20 but a whole month, until it come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you; because that ye have rejected Jehovah who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt? 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 Shall flocks and 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 And Jehovah said unto Moses, Is Jehovah’s hand waxed short? now shalt thou see whether my word shall come to pass unto thee or not.

24 And Moses went out, and told the people the words of Jehovah: and he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them round about the Tent. 25 And Jehovah came down in the cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the Spirit that was upon him, and put it upon the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, but they did so no more.

26 But there remained two 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 had not gone out unto the Tent; and they prophesied in the camp. 27 And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp. 28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, [f]one of his chosen men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them. 29 And Moses said unto him, Art thou jealous for my sake? would that all Jehovah’s people were prophets, that Jehovah would put his Spirit upon them! 30 And Moses gat him into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.

31 And there went forth a wind from Jehovah, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall [g]by the camp, about a day’s journey on this side, and a day’s journey on the other side, round about the camp, and about two cubits above the face of the earth. 32 And the people rose up all that day, and all the night, and all the next day, and gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves round about the camp. 33 While the flesh was yet between their teeth, ere it was chewed, the anger of Jehovah was kindled against the people, and Jehovah smote the people with a very great plague. 34 And the name of that place was called [h]Kibroth-hattaavah, because there they buried the people that lusted. 35 From Kibroth-hattaavah the people journeyed unto Hazeroth; and they abode at Hazeroth.

12 And Miriam and Aaron spake against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married; for he had married a Cushite woman. And they said, Hath Jehovah indeed spoken only [i]with Moses? hath he not spoken also [j]with us? And Jehovah heard it. Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men that were upon the face of the earth.

And Jehovah spake suddenly unto Moses, and unto Aaron, and unto Miriam, Come out ye three unto the tent of meeting. And they three came out. And Jehovah came down in a pillar of cloud, and stood at the door of the Tent, and called Aaron and Miriam; and they both came forth. And he said, Hear now my words: if there be a prophet among you, I Jehovah will make myself known unto him in a vision, I will speak with him in a dream. My servant Moses is not so; he is faithful in all my house: with him will I speak mouth to mouth, even manifestly, and not in dark speeches; and the form of Jehovah shall he behold: wherefore then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant, against Moses?

And the anger of Jehovah was kindled against them; and he departed. 10 And the cloud removed from over the Tent; and, behold, Miriam was leprous, as white as snow: and Aaron looked upon Miriam, and, behold, she was leprous. 11 And Aaron said unto Moses, Oh, my lord, lay not, I pray thee, sin upon us, for that we have done foolishly, and for that we have sinned. 12 Let her not, I pray, be as one dead, of whom the flesh is half consumed when he cometh out of his mother’s womb. 13 And Moses cried unto Jehovah, saying, Heal her, O God, I beseech thee. 14 And Jehovah said unto Moses, If her father had but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days? let her be shut up without the camp seven days, and after that she shall be brought in again. 15 And Miriam was shut up without the camp seven days: and the people journeyed not till Miriam was brought in again.

16 And afterward the people journeyed from Hazeroth, and encamped in the wilderness of Paran. 13 And Jehovah spake unto Moses, saying, Send thou men, that they may spy out the land of Canaan, which I give unto the children of Israel: of every tribe of their fathers shall ye send a man, every one a prince among them. And Moses sent them from the wilderness of Paran according to the commandment of Jehovah: all of them men who were heads of the children of Israel. And these were their names: Of the tribe of Reuben, Shammua the son of Zaccur. Of the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat the son of Hori. Of the tribe of Judah, Caleb the son of Jephunneh. Of the tribe of Issachar, Igal the son of Joseph. Of the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea the son of Nun. Of the tribe of Benjamin, Palti the son of Raphu. 10 Of the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel the son of Sodi. 11 Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi. 12 Of the tribe of Dan, Ammiel the son of Gemalli. 13 Of the tribe of Asher, Sethur the son of Michael. 14 Of the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi the son of Vophsi. 15 Of the tribe of Gad, Geuel the son of Machi. 16 These are the names of the men that Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.

17 And Moses sent them to spy out the land of Canaan, and said unto them, Get you up this way [k]by the South, and go up into the hill-country: 18 and see the land, what it is; and the people that dwell therein, whether they are strong or weak, whether they are few or many; 19 and what the land is that they dwell in, whether it is good or bad; and what cities they are that they dwell in, whether in camps, or in strongholds; 20 and what the land is, whether it is fat or lean, whether there is wood therein, or not. And be ye of good courage, and bring of the fruit of the land. Now the time was the time of the first-ripe grapes.

21 So they went up, and spied out the land from the wilderness of Zin unto Rehob, to the entrance of Hamath. 22 And they went up by the South, and came unto Hebron; and Ahiman, Sheshai, and Talmai, the children of Anak, were there. (Now Hebron was built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 And they came unto the valley of Eshcol, and cut down from thence a branch with one cluster of grapes, and they bare it upon a staff between two; they brought also of the pomegranates, and of the figs. 24 That place was called the valley of [l]Eshcol, because of the cluster which the children of Israel cut down from thence.

25 And they returned from spying out the land at the end of forty days. 26 And they went and came to Moses, and to Aaron, and to all the congregation of the children of Israel, unto the wilderness of Paran, to Kadesh; and brought back word unto them, and unto all the congregation, and showed them the fruit of the land. 27 And they told him, and said, We came unto the land whither thou sentest us; and surely it floweth with milk and honey; and this is the fruit of it. 28 Howbeit the people that dwell in the land are strong, and the cities are fortified, and very great: and moreover we saw the children of Anak there. 29 Amalek dwelleth in the land of the South: and the Hittite, and the Jebusite, and the Amorite, dwell in the hill-country; and the Canaanite dwelleth by the sea, and along by the side of the Jordan.

30 And Caleb stilled the people before Moses, and said, Let us go up at once, and possess it; for we are well able to overcome it. 31 But the men that went up with him said, We are not able to go up against the people; for they are stronger than we. 32 And they brought up an evil report of the land which they had spied out unto the children of Israel, saying, The land, through which we have gone to spy it out, is a land that eateth up the inhabitants thereof; and all the people that we saw in it are men of great stature. 33 And there we saw the [m]Nephilim, the sons of Anak, who come of the Nephilim: and we were in our own sight as grasshoppers, and so we were in their sight.

Footnotes

  1. Numbers 11:1 Or, which was evil
  2. Numbers 11:3 That is, Burning.
  3. Numbers 11:7 Hebrew eye.
  4. Numbers 11:8 Or, cakes baked with oil
  5. Numbers 11:9 Or, with
  6. Numbers 11:28 Or, from his youth
  7. Numbers 11:31 Or, over
  8. Numbers 11:34 That is, The graves of lust.
  9. Numbers 12:2 Or, by
  10. Numbers 12:2 Or, by
  11. Numbers 13:17 Or, into
  12. Numbers 13:24 That is, a cluster.
  13. Numbers 13:33 Or, giants

Fire From the Lord

11 Now the people complained(A) about their hardships in the hearing of the Lord,(B) and when he heard them his anger was aroused.(C) Then fire from the Lord burned among them(D) and consumed(E) some of the outskirts of the camp. When the people cried out to Moses, he prayed(F) to the Lord(G) and the fire died down. So that place was called Taberah,[a](H) because fire from the Lord had burned among them.(I)

Quail From the Lord

The rabble with them began to crave other food,(J) and again the Israelites started wailing(K) and said, “If only we had meat to eat! We remember the fish we ate in Egypt at no cost—also the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic.(L) But now we have lost our appetite; we never see anything but this manna!(M)

The manna was like coriander seed(N) and looked like resin.(O) The people went around gathering it,(P) and then ground it in a hand mill or crushed it in a mortar. They cooked it in a pot or made it into loaves. And it tasted like something made with olive oil. When the dew(Q) settled on the camp at night, the manna also came down.

10 Moses heard the people of every family wailing(R) at the entrance to their tents. The Lord became exceedingly angry, and Moses was troubled. 11 He asked the Lord, “Why have you brought this trouble(S) on your servant? What have I done to displease you that you put the burden of all these people on me?(T) 12 Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth? Why do you tell me to carry them in my arms, as a nurse carries an infant,(U) to the land you promised on oath(V) to their ancestors?(W) 13 Where can I get meat for all these people?(X) They keep wailing to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ 14 I cannot carry all these people by myself; the burden is too heavy for me.(Y) 15 If this is how you are going to treat me, please go ahead and kill me(Z)—if I have found favor in your eyes—and do not let me face my own ruin.”

16 The Lord said to Moses: “Bring me seventy of Israel’s elders(AA) who are known to you as leaders and officials among the people.(AB) Have them come to the tent of meeting,(AC) that they may stand there with you. 17 I will come down and speak with you(AD) there, and I will take some of the power of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them.(AE) They will share the burden of the people with you so that you will not have to carry it alone.(AF)

18 “Tell the people: ‘Consecrate yourselves(AG) in preparation for tomorrow, when you will eat meat. The Lord heard you when you wailed,(AH) “If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!”(AI) Now the Lord will give you meat,(AJ) and you will eat it. 19 You will not eat it for just one day, or two days, or five, ten or twenty days, 20 but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and you loathe it(AK)—because you have rejected the Lord,(AL) who is among you, and have wailed before him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”(AM)

21 But Moses said, “Here I am among six hundred thousand men(AN) on foot, and you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’ 22 Would they have enough if flocks and herds were slaughtered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”(AO)

23 The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm too short?(AP) Now you will see whether or not what I say will come true for you.(AQ)

24 So Moses went out and told the people what the Lord had said. He brought together seventy of their elders and had them stand around the tent. 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud(AR) and spoke with him,(AS) and he took some of the power of the Spirit(AT) that was on him and put it on the seventy elders.(AU) When the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied(AV)—but did not do so again.

26 However, two men, whose names were Eldad and Medad, had remained in the camp. They were listed among the elders, but did not go out to the tent. Yet the Spirit also rested on them,(AW) and they prophesied in the camp. 27 A young man ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”

28 Joshua son of Nun,(AX) who had been Moses’ aide(AY) since youth, spoke up and said, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”(AZ)

29 But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I wish that all the Lord’s people were prophets(BA) and that the Lord would put his Spirit(BB) on them!”(BC) 30 Then Moses and the elders of Israel returned to the camp.

31 Now a wind went out from the Lord and drove quail(BD) in from the sea. It scattered them up to two cubits[b] deep all around the camp, as far as a day’s walk in any direction. 32 All that day and night and all the next day the people went out and gathered quail. No one gathered less than ten homers.[c] Then they spread them out all around the camp. 33 But while the meat was still between their teeth(BE) and before it could be consumed, the anger(BF) of the Lord burned against the people, and he struck them with a severe plague.(BG) 34 Therefore the place was named Kibroth Hattaavah,[d](BH) because there they buried the people who had craved other food.

35 From Kibroth Hattaavah the people traveled to Hazeroth(BI) and stayed there.

Miriam and Aaron Oppose Moses

12 Miriam(BJ) and Aaron began to talk against Moses because of his Cushite wife,(BK) for he had married a Cushite. “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses?” they asked. “Hasn’t he also spoken through us?”(BL) And the Lord heard this.(BM)

(Now Moses was a very humble man,(BN) more humble than anyone else on the face of the earth.)

At once the Lord said to Moses, Aaron and Miriam, “Come out to the tent of meeting, all three of you.” So the three of them went out. Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud;(BO) he stood at the entrance to the tent and summoned Aaron and Miriam. When the two of them stepped forward, he said, “Listen to my words:

“When there is a prophet among you,
    I, the Lord, reveal(BP) myself to them in visions,(BQ)
    I speak to them in dreams.(BR)
But this is not true of my servant Moses;(BS)
    he is faithful in all my house.(BT)
With him I speak face to face,
    clearly and not in riddles;(BU)
    he sees the form of the Lord.(BV)
Why then were you not afraid
    to speak against my servant Moses?”(BW)

The anger of the Lord burned against them,(BX) and he left them.(BY)

10 When the cloud lifted from above the tent,(BZ) Miriam’s skin was leprous[e]—it became as white as snow.(CA) Aaron turned toward her and saw that she had a defiling skin disease,(CB) 11 and he said to Moses, “Please, my lord, I ask you not to hold against us the sin we have so foolishly committed.(CC) 12 Do not let her be like a stillborn infant coming from its mother’s womb with its flesh half eaten away.”

13 So Moses cried out to the Lord, “Please, God, heal her!(CD)

14 The Lord replied to Moses, “If her father had spit in her face,(CE) would she not have been in disgrace for seven days? Confine her outside the camp(CF) for seven days; after that she can be brought back.” 15 So Miriam was confined outside the camp(CG) for seven days,(CH) and the people did not move on till she was brought back.

16 After that, the people left Hazeroth(CI) and encamped in the Desert of Paran.(CJ)

Exploring Canaan

13 The Lord said to Moses, “Send some men to explore(CK) the land of Canaan,(CL) which I am giving to the Israelites.(CM) From each ancestral tribe(CN) send one of its leaders.”

So at the Lord’s command Moses sent them out from the Desert of Paran. All of them were leaders of the Israelites.(CO) These are their names:

from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zakkur;

from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori;

from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh;(CP)

from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph;

from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun;(CQ)

from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu;

10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi;

11 from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), Gaddi son of Susi;

12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gemalli;

13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael;

14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi;

15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki.

16 These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore(CR) the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun(CS) the name Joshua.)(CT)

17 When Moses sent them to explore Canaan,(CU) he said, “Go up through the Negev(CV) and on into the hill country.(CW) 18 See what the land is like and whether the people who live there are strong or weak, few or many. 19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What kind of towns do they live in? Are they unwalled or fortified? 20 How is the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees in it or not? Do your best to bring back some of the fruit of the land.(CX)” (It was the season for the first ripe grapes.)(CY)

21 So they went up and explored the land from the Desert of Zin(CZ) as far as Rehob,(DA) toward Lebo Hamath.(DB) 22 They went up through the Negev and came to Hebron,(DC) where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai,(DD) the descendants of Anak,(DE) lived. (Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.)(DF) 23 When they reached the Valley of Eshkol,[f](DG) they cut off a branch bearing a single cluster of grapes. Two of them carried it on a pole between them, along with some pomegranates(DH) and figs.(DI) 24 That place was called the Valley of Eshkol because of the cluster of grapes the Israelites cut off there. 25 At the end of forty days(DJ) they returned from exploring the land.(DK)

Report on the Exploration

26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and the whole Israelite community at Kadesh(DL) in the Desert of Paran.(DM) There they reported to them(DN) and to the whole assembly and showed them the fruit of the land.(DO) 27 They gave Moses this account: “We went into the land to which you sent us, and it does flow with milk and honey!(DP) Here is its fruit.(DQ) 28 But the people who live there are powerful, and the cities are fortified and very large.(DR) We even saw descendants of Anak(DS) there.(DT) 29 The Amalekites(DU) live in the Negev; the Hittites,(DV) Jebusites(DW) and Amorites(DX) live in the hill country;(DY) and the Canaanites(DZ) live near the sea and along the Jordan.(EA)

30 Then Caleb(EB) silenced the people before Moses and said, “We should go up and take possession of the land, for we can certainly do it.”

31 But the men who had gone up with him said, “We can’t attack those people; they are stronger than we are.”(EC) 32 And they spread among the Israelites a bad report(ED) about the land they had explored. They said, “The land we explored devours(EE) those living in it. All the people we saw there are of great size.(EF) 33 We saw the Nephilim(EG) there (the descendants of Anak(EH) come from the Nephilim). We seemed like grasshoppers(EI) in our own eyes, and we looked the same to them.”

Footnotes

  1. Numbers 11:3 Taberah means burning.
  2. Numbers 11:31 That is, about 3 feet or about 90 centimeters
  3. Numbers 11:32 That is, possibly about 1 3/4 tons or about 1.6 metric tons
  4. Numbers 11:34 Kibroth Hattaavah means graves of craving.
  5. Numbers 12:10 The Hebrew for leprous was used for various diseases affecting the skin.
  6. Numbers 13:23 Eshkol means cluster; also in verse 24.