The People Complain

11 Now the people became like those who complain and whine about their hardships, and the Lord heard it; and when the Lord heard it, His anger was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burned among them and devoured those in the outlying parts of the camp. ² So the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire died out. ³ He named that place Taberah (the place of burning), because the fire of the Lord burned among them.

⁴ The ^[a]rabble among them [who followed Israel from Egypt] had greedy desires [for familiar and delicious food], and the Israelites wept again and said, “Who will give us meat to eat? ⁵ We remember the fish we ate freely and without cost in Egypt, the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. ⁶ But now our ^[b]appetite is gone; there is nothing at all [in the way of food] ^[c]to be seen but this manna.”

⁷ The manna was like coriander seed, and it looked like ^[d]bdellium. ⁸ 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 with it; and it tasted like cakes baked with fresh [olive] oil. ⁹ When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna fell with it.