The Complaint of Moses

¹⁰ Now Moses heard the people weeping throughout their families, each one at the entrance of his tent; and the anger of the Lord became very hot, and ^[a]Moses was displeased. ^11 (A)So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You ^[b]been so hard on Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have put the burden of all this people on me? ¹² Was it I who conceived all this people? Or did I give birth to them, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them ^[c]in your arms, as a ^[d](B)nurse carries a nursing infant, to the land which ^(C)You swore to their fathers’? ¹³ Where am I to get meat to give to ^(D)all this people? For they weep before me, saying, ‘Give us meat so that we may eat!’ ^14 (E)I am not able to carry all this people by myself, because it is too ^[e]burdensome for me. ^15 (F)So if You are going to deal with me this way, please kill me now, if I have found favor in Your sight, and do not let me see my misery.”

Seventy Elders to Assist Moses

¹⁶ The Lord therefore said to Moses, “Gather for Me ^(G)seventy men from the elders of Israel, ^(H)whom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers, and bring them to the tent of meeting, and have them take their stand there with you. ^17 (I)Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take away some of ^(J)the Spirit who is upon you, and put Him upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not bear it by yourself. ¹⁸ And you shall say to the people, ‘^(K)Consecrate yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept ^(L)in the ears of the Lord, saying, “^[f]Oh that someone would give us meat to eat! For we were well-off in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you meat and you shall eat. ¹⁹ You shall eat, not one day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, ^20 [g]but for a whole month, until it comes out of your nose and ^[h]makes you nauseated; because ^(M)you have rejected the Lord who is among you and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’” ²¹ But Moses said, “The people, among whom I am included, are six hundred thousand on foot! Yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat, so that they may eat for a whole month.’ ²² Are flocks and herds to be slaughtered for them, so that it will be sufficient for them? Or are all the fish of the sea to be ^[i]caught for them, so that it will be sufficient for them?” ²³ Then the Lord said to Moses, “Is ^(N)the Lord’s ^[j]power too little? Now you shall see whether ^(O)My word will ^[k]come true for you or not.”

²⁴ So Moses went out and ^(P)told the people the words of the Lord. He also gathered seventy men of the elders of the people, and positioned them around the tent. ^25 (Q)Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to him; and He took away some of the Spirit who was upon him and placed Him upon the seventy elders. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. Yet they did not do it again.

²⁶ But two men had remained in the camp; the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the ^[l]other, Medad. And ^(R)the Spirit rested upon them (and they were among those who had been registered, but had not gone out to the tent), and they prophesied in the camp. ²⁷ So a young man ran and informed Moses, and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.” ²⁸ Then ^(S)Joshua the son of Nun, the personal servant of Moses from his youth, responded and said, “^(T)My lord Moses, restrain them!” ²⁹ But Moses said to him, “Are you jealous for my sake? ^(U)If only all the Lord’s people were prophets, that the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” ³⁰ Then Moses ^[m]returned to the camp, both he and the elders of Israel.

The Quail and the Plague

^31 (V)Now a wind burst forth from the Lord and it brought quail from the sea, and dropped them beside the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and a day’s journey on the other side all around the camp, and about ^[n]two cubits deep on the surface of the ground. ³² And the people ^[o]spent all that day, all night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quail (the one who gathered least gathered ^[p]ten ^(W)homers) and spread them out for themselves all around the camp. ^33 (X)While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the anger of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord struck the people with a very severe plague.

The Death and Resurrection of Lazarus

11 Now a certain man was sick: Lazarus of ^(A)Bethany, the village of Mary and her sister ^(B)Martha. ² And it was the Mary who ^(C)anointed ^(D)the Lord with ^[a]ointment, and wiped His feet with her hair, whose brother Lazarus was sick. ³ So the sisters sent word to Him, saying, “^(E)Lord, behold, ^(F)he whom You love is sick.” ⁴ But when Jesus heard this, He said, “This sickness is not ^[b]meant for death, but is for ^(G)the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified by it.” ⁵ (Now Jesus loved ^(H)Martha and her sister, and Lazarus.) ⁶ So when He heard that he was sick, He then stayed two days longer in the place where He was. ⁷ Then after this He *said to the disciples, “^(I)Let’s go to Judea again.” ⁸ The disciples *said to Him, “^(J)Rabbi, the Jews were just now seeking ^(K)to stone You, and yet You are going there again?” ⁹ Jesus replied, “^(L)Are there not twelve hours in the day? If anyone walks during the day, he does not stumble, because he sees the light of this world. ¹⁰ But if anyone walks during the night, he stumbles, because the light is not in ^[c]him.” ¹¹ This He said, and after this He *said to them, “Our ^(M)friend Lazarus ^(N)has fallen asleep; but I am going so that I may awaken him from sleep.” ¹² The disciples then said to Him, “Lord, if he has fallen asleep, he will ^[d]come out of it.” ¹³ Now ^(O)Jesus had spoken of his death, but they thought that He was speaking about ^[e]actual sleep. ¹⁴ So Jesus then said to them plainly, “Lazarus died, ¹⁵ and I am glad for your sakes that I was not there, so that you may believe; but let’s go to him.” ^16 (P)Therefore Thomas, who was called ^[f](Q)Didymus, said to his fellow disciples, “Let’s also go, so that we may die with Him!”

¹⁷ So when Jesus came, He found that he had already been in the tomb ^(R)four days. ¹⁸ Now ^(S)Bethany was near Jerusalem, about ^[g]fifteen stadia away; ¹⁹ and many of ^(T)the Jews had come to ^(U)Martha and Mary, ^(V)to console them about their brother. ²⁰ So then ^(W)Martha, when she heard that Jesus was coming, went to meet Him, but ^(X)Mary ^[h]stayed in the house. ²¹ Martha then said to Jesus, “^(Y)Lord, ^(Z)if You had been here, my brother would not have died. ²² Even now I know that ^(AA)whatever You ask of God, God will give You.” ²³ Jesus *said to her, “Your brother will rise from the dead.” ²⁴ Martha *said to Him, “^(AB)I know that he will rise in the resurrection on the last day.” ²⁵ Jesus said to her, “^(AC)I am the resurrection and the life; the one who believes in Me will live, even if he dies, ²⁶ and everyone who lives and believes in Me ^(AD)will never die. Do you believe this?” ²⁷ She *said to Him, “Yes, Lord; I have come to believe that You are ^(AE)the ^[i]Christ, the Son of God, and ^[j](AF)He who comes into the world.”

²⁸ When she had said this, she ^(AG)left and called Mary her sister, saying secretly, “^(AH)The Teacher is here and is calling for you.” ²⁹ And when she heard this, she *got up quickly and came to Him.

³⁰ Now Jesus had not yet come into the village, but ^(AI)was still at the place where Martha met Him. ^31 (AJ)Then the Jews who were with her in the house and were ^(AK)consoling her, when they saw that Mary had gotten up quickly and left, they followed her, thinking that she was going to the tomb to weep there. ³² So when Mary came to the place where Jesus was, she saw Him and fell at His feet, saying to Him, “^(AL)Lord, ^(AM)if You had been here, my brother would not have died.” ³³ Therefore when Jesus saw her weeping, and ^(AN)the Jews who came with her also weeping, He ^(AO)was deeply moved in spirit and ^[k](AP)was troubled, ³⁴ and He said, “Where have you laid him?” They *said to Him, “Lord, come and see.” ³⁵ Jesus ^(AQ)wept. ³⁶ So ^(AR)the Jews were saying, “See how He ^(AS)loved him!” ³⁷ But some of them said, “Could this man, who ^(AT)opened the eyes of the man who was blind, not have also ^[l]kept this man from dying?”

³⁸ So Jesus, again being deeply moved within, *came to the tomb. Now it was a ^(AU)cave, and a stone was lying against it. ³⁹ Jesus *said, “Remove the stone.” Martha, the sister of the deceased, *said to Him, “Lord, by this time ^[m]there will be a stench, for he has been dead ^(AV)four days.” ⁴⁰ Jesus *said to her, “^(AW)Did I not say to you that if you believe, you will see the glory of God?” ⁴¹ So they removed the ^(AX)stone. And Jesus ^(AY)raised His eyes, and said, “^(AZ)Father, I thank You that You have heard Me. ⁴² But I knew that You always hear Me; nevertheless, ^(BA)because of the ^[n]people standing around I said it, so that they may believe that ^(BB)You sent Me.” ⁴³ And when He had said these things, He cried out with a loud voice, “Lazarus, come out!” ⁴⁴ Out came the man who had died, ^(BC)bound hand and foot with wrappings, and ^(BD)his face was wrapped around with a cloth. Jesus *said to them, “Unbind him, and let him go.”

The Murmuring of Miriam and Aaron

12 Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married (for he had married a ^(A)Cushite woman); ^2 (B)and they said, “Is it a fact that the Lord has spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through us as well?” And the Lord heard this. ³ (Now the man Moses was ^(C)very humble, more than any person who was on the face of the earth.) ⁴ And the Lord suddenly said to Moses and to Aaron and Miriam, “You three go out to the tent of meeting.” So the three of them went out. ^5 (D)Then the Lord came down in a pillar of cloud and stood at the entrance of the tent; and He called Aaron and Miriam. When they had both come forward, ⁶ He said,

⁹ And the anger of the Lord burned against them and ^(K)He departed. ¹⁰ But when the cloud had withdrawn from above the tent, behold, ^(L)Miriam was leprous, as ^(M)white as snow. As Aaron turned toward Miriam, behold, she was leprous. ¹¹ Then Aaron said to Moses, “Oh, my lord, I beg you, ^(N)do not ^[c]hold us responsible for this sin by which we have turned out to be foolish, and by which we have sinned. ¹² Oh, do not let her be like a dead person, whose flesh is half eaten away when he comes out of his mother’s womb!” ¹³ So Moses cried out to the Lord, saying, “God, ^(O)heal her, please!” ¹⁴ But the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had only ^(P)spit in her face, would she not be put to shame for seven days? Have her shut ^(Q)outside the camp for seven days, and afterward she may be received again.” ¹⁵ So ^(R)Miriam was shut outside the camp for seven days, and the people did not move on until Miriam was received again.

¹⁶ Afterward, however, the people moved on from Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.