¹⁸ Then you shall say to the people, ^[a]‘Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept ^(A)in the hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it was well with us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat, and you shall eat.

¹⁰ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Go to the people and ^(A)consecrate them today and tomorrow, and let them wash their clothes.

³⁹ whom our fathers ^(A)would not obey, but rejected. And in their hearts they turned back to Egypt,

The People Complain

11 Now ^(A)when the people complained, it displeased the Lord; ^(B)for the Lord heard it, and His anger was aroused. So the ^(C)fire of the Lord burned among them, and consumed some in the outskirts of the camp.

² Then the people came ^(A)to ^[a]the house of God, and remained there before God till evening. They lifted up their voices and wept bitterly,

¹³ Get up, ^(A)sanctify^[a] the people, and say, ^(B)‘Sanctify yourselves for tomorrow, because thus says the Lord God of Israel: “There is an accursed thing in your midst, O Israel; you cannot stand before your enemies until you take away the accursed thing from among you.”

^2 (A)And all the children of Israel complained against Moses and Aaron, and the whole congregation said to them, “If only we had died in the land of Egypt! Or if only we had died in this wilderness! ³ Why has the Lord brought us to this land to ^[a]fall by the sword, that our wives and ^(B)children should become victims? Would it not be better for us to return to Egypt?”

⁴ Now the ^(A)mixed multitude who were among them ^[a]yielded to ^(B)intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept again and said: ^(C)“Who will give us meat to eat? ^5 (D)We remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; ⁶ but now ^(E)our whole being is dried up; there is nothing at all except this manna before our eyes!”

¹⁵ And he said to the people, “Be ready for the third day; ^(A)do not come near your wives.”