Numbers 11:16-35

Contemporary English Version

Seventy Leaders Are Chosen To Help Moses

¹⁶ The Lord said to Moses:

Choose 70 of Israel's respected leaders and go with them to the sacred tent. ¹⁷ While I am talking with you there, I will give them some of your authority, so they can share responsibility for my people. You will no longer have to care for them by yourself.

¹⁸ As for the Israelites, I have heard them complaining about not having meat and about being better off in Egypt. So tell them to make themselves acceptable to me, because tomorrow they will have meat. ^19-20 In fact, they will have meat day after day for a whole month—not just a few days, or even 10 or 20. They turned against me and wanted to go back to Egypt. Now they will eat meat until they get sick of it.

²¹ Moses replied, “At least 600,000 grown men are here with me. How can you say there will be enough meat to feed them and their families for a whole month? ²² Even if we butchered all our sheep and cattle, or caught every fish in the sea, we wouldn't have enough to feed them.”

²³ The Lord answered, “I can do anything! Watch and you'll see my words come true.”

²⁴ Moses told the people what the Lord had said. Then he chose 70 respected leaders and went with them to the sacred tent. While the leaders stood in a circle around the tent, Moses went inside, ²⁵ and the Lord spoke with him. Then the Lord took some authority^[a] from Moses and gave it to the 70 leaders. And when the Lord's Spirit took control of them, they started shouting like prophets. But they did it only this one time.

²⁶ Eldad and Medad were two leaders who had not gone to the tent. But when the Spirit took control of them, they began shouting like prophets right there in camp. ²⁷ A boy ran to Moses and told him about Eldad and Medad.

²⁸ Joshua^[b] was there helping Moses, as he had done since he was young. And he said to Moses, “Sir, you must stop them!”

²⁹ But Moses replied, “Are you concerned what this might do to me? I wish the Lord would give his Spirit to all his people so everyone could be a prophet.” ³⁰ Then Moses and the 70 leaders went back to camp.

The Lord Sends Quails

³¹ Some time later the Lord sent a strong wind that blew quails in from the sea until Israel's camp was completely surrounded with birds, piled up about a meter high for many kilometers in every direction. ³² The people picked up quails for two days—each person filled at least ten large baskets. Then they spread them out to dry. ³³ But before the meat could be eaten, the Lord became angry and sent a deadly disease through the camp.

³⁴ After they had buried the people who had been so greedy for meat, they called the place “Graves for the Greedy.”^[c]

³⁵ Israel then broke camp and traveled to Hazeroth.