Numbers 11
Christian Standard Bible
Complaints about Hardship
11 Now the people began complaining openly before[a] the Lord about hardship. When the Lord heard, his anger burned,(A) and fire(B) from the Lord blazed among them and consumed the outskirts of the camp. 2 Then the people cried out to Moses, and he prayed to the Lord, and the fire died down. 3 So that place was named Taberah,[b](C) because the Lord’s fire had blazed among them.
Complaints about Food
4 The riffraff[c] among them(D) had a strong craving(E) for other food. The Israelites wept again and said, “Who will feed us meat? 5 We remember the free fish we ate in Egypt,(F) along with the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic. 6 But now our appetite is gone;[d] there’s nothing to look at but this manna!”
7 The manna(G) resembled coriander seed, and its appearance was like that of bdellium.[e] 8 The people walked around and gathered it. They ground it on a pair of grinding stones or crushed it in a mortar, then boiled it in a cooking pot and shaped it into cakes. It tasted like a pastry cooked with the finest oil. 9 When the dew fell on the camp at night, the manna would fall with it.(H)
10 Moses heard the people, family after family, weeping at the entrance of their tents. The Lord was very angry;(I) Moses was also provoked.[f] 11 So Moses asked the Lord, “Why have you brought such trouble on your servant? Why are you angry with me,[g] and why do you burden me with all these people?(J) 12 Did I conceive all these people? Did I give them birth so you should tell me, ‘Carry them at your breast, as a nursing mother carries a baby,’(K) to the land that you swore to give their ancestors?(L) 13 Where can I get meat to give all these people? For they are weeping to me, ‘Give us meat to eat!’ 14 I can’t carry all these people by myself. They are too much for me. 15 If you are going to treat me like this, please kill me right now(M) if I have found favor with you, and(N) don’t let me see my misery[h] anymore.”
Seventy Elders Anointed
16 The Lord answered Moses, “Bring me seventy men from Israel known to you as elders and officers of the people. Take them to the tent of meeting and have them stand there with you. 17 Then I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the Spirit who is on you and put the Spirit on them.(O) They will help you bear the burden of the people, so that you do not have to bear it by yourself.(P)
18 “Tell the people: Consecrate yourselves in readiness for tomorrow, and you will eat meat because you wept in the Lord’s hearing, ‘Who will feed us meat? We were better off in Egypt.’ The Lord will give you meat and you will eat. 19 You will eat, not for one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, 20 but for a whole month—until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes nauseating to you—because you have rejected the Lord who is among you, and wept before him, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’” (Q)
21 But Moses replied, “I’m in the middle of a people with six hundred thousand foot soldiers,(R) yet you say, ‘I will give them meat, and they will eat for a month.’ 22 If flocks and herds were slaughtered for them, would they have enough? Or if all the fish in the sea were caught for them, would they have enough?” (S)
23 The Lord answered Moses, “Is the Lord’s arm weak?[i](T) Now you will see whether or not what I have promised will happen to you.”
24 Moses went out and told the people the words of the Lord. He brought seventy men from the elders of the people and had them stand around the tent. 25 Then the Lord descended in the cloud and spoke to him.(U) He took some of the Spirit who was on Moses and placed the Spirit on the seventy elders. As the Spirit rested on them, they prophesied,(V) but they never did it again. 26 Two men had remained in the camp, one named Eldad and the other Medad; the Spirit rested on them—they were among those listed, but had not gone out to the tent—and they prophesied in the camp. 27 A young man ran and reported to Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
28 Joshua son of Nun, assistant to Moses since his youth,[j] responded, “Moses, my lord, stop them!”
29 But Moses asked him, “Are you jealous on my account?(W) If only all the Lord’s people were prophets and the Lord would place his Spirit on them!” 30 Then Moses returned to the camp along with the elders of Israel.
Quail in the Camp
31 A wind sent by the Lord(X) came up and blew quail in from the sea; it dropped them all around the camp. They were flying three feet[k] off[l] the ground for about a day’s journey in every direction.(Y) 32 The people were up all that day and night and all the next day gathering the quail—the one who took the least gathered sixty bushels[m]—and they spread them out all around the camp.[n](Z)
33 While the meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the Lord’s anger burned(AA) against the people, and the Lord struck them with a very severe plague.(AB) 34 So they named that place Kibroth-hattaavah,[o] because there they buried the people who had craved the meat.
35 From Kibroth-hattaavah the people moved on to Hazeroth[p](AC) and remained there.
Footnotes
- 11:1 Lit in the ears of
- 11:3 = Blaze
- 11:4 Or The mixed multitude; Hb obscure
- 11:6 Or our lives are wasting away, or our throat is dry
- 11:7 A yellowish, transparent gum resin
- 11:10 Lit and it was evil in the eyes of Moses
- 11:11 Lit Why have I not found favor in your eyes
- 11:15 Alt Hb tradition reads your misery
- 11:23 Lit the Lord’s arm too short
- 11:28 Or Moses, from his elite young men
- 11:31 Lit two cubits
- 11:31 Or They were three feet deep on
- 11:32 Lit 10 homers
- 11:32 To dry or cure the meat; 2Sm 17:19; Ezk 26:5,14
- 11:34 = Graves of Craving
- 11:35 = Settlements; Nm 12:16; 33:16–17
Numbers 11
1599 Geneva Bible
11 1 The people murmureth, and is punished with fire. 4 The people lusteth after flesh. 6 They loathe Manna. 11 The weak faith of Moses. 16 The Lord divided the burden of Moses to seventy of the Ancients. 31 The Lord sendeth quails. 33 Their lust is punished.
1 When the people became [a]murmurers, [b]it displeased the Lord: and the Lord heard it, therefore his wrath was kindled, and the fire of the Lord burnt among them, and (A)consumed the utmost part of the host.
2 Then the people cried unto Moses: and when Moses prayed unto the Lord, the fire was quenched.
3 And he called the name of the place [c]Taberah, because the fire of the Lord burnt among them.
4 ¶ And a number of [d]people that was among them, fell a lusting, and [e]turned away, and the children of Israel also wept, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
5 We remember the fish which we did eat in Egypt for [f]nought, the cucumbers, and the pepons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic.
6 But now our soul is [g]dried away, we can see nothing but this Manna.
7 (The Manna also was as (B)coriander seed, and his color like the color of [h]bdellium.
8 The people went about and gathered, and ground it in mills, or beat it in mortars, and baked it in a cauldron, and made cakes of it, and the taste of it was like unto the taste of fresh oil.
9 And when the dew fell down upon the host in night, the Manna fell with it.)
10 ¶ Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every man in the door of his tent, and the wrath of the Lord was grievously kindled: also Moses was grieved.
11 And Moses said unto the Lord, Wherefore hast thou [i]vexed thy servant? and why have I not found [j]favor in thy sight, seeing thou hast put the charge of all this people upon me?
12 Have I [k]conceived all this people? or have I begotten them, that thou shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom (as a nurse beareth the sucking child) unto the [l]land, for the which thou swarest unto their fathers?
13 Where 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, for it is too heavy for me.
15 Therefore if thou deal thus with me, I pray thee, if I have found favor in thy [m]sight, kill me, that I behold not my misery.
16 ¶ Then the Lord said unto Moses, Gather unto me seventy men of the Elders of Israel, whom thou knowest, that they are the Elders of the people, and governors over them, and bring them unto the Tabernacle of the Congregation, and let them stand there with thee.
17 And I will come down, and talk with thee there, [n]and take of the Spirit, which is upon thee, and put upon them, and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee: so thou shalt not bear it alone.
18 Furthermore thou shalt say unto the people, [o]Be sanctified against tomorrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for you have wept in the ears of the Lord, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for we were better in Egypt: therefore the Lord 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 be loathsome unto you, because ye have [p]contemned the Lord, which is [q]among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we hither out of Egypt?
21 And Moses said, Six hundred thousand footmen are there of the people, [r]among whom I am: and thou sayest, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a month long.
22 Shall the sheep and the beeves be slain for them to find them? either shall all the fish of the Sea be gathered together for them to suffice them?
23 And the Lord said unto Moses, Is (C)the Lord’s hand shortened? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass unto thee, or no.
24 ¶ So Moses went out, and told the people the words of the Lord, and gathered seventy men of the Elders of the people, and set them round about the Tabernacle.
25 Then the Lord came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and [s]took of the Spirit that was upon him, and put it upon the seventy Ancient men: and when the Spirit rested upon them, then they prophesied, and did not [t]cease.
26 But there remained two of the men in the host: the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad, and the Spirit rested upon them, (for they were of them that were written, and went not out unto the Tabernacle) and they prophesied in the host.
27 Then there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the host.
28 And Joshua the son of Nun the servant of Moses one of his [u]young men answered and said, My lord Moses, [v]forbid them.
29 But Moses said unto him, Enviest thou for my sake? yea, would God that all the Lord’s people were Prophets, and that the Lord would put his spirit upon them.
30 And Moses returned into the host, he and the Elders of Israel.
31 Then there went forth a wind from the Lord, and (D)brought quails from the sea, and let them fall upon the camp, a day’s journey on this side, and a day’s journey on the other side, round about the host, and they were about two cubits above the earth.
32 Then the people arose, all that day, and all the night, and all the next day, and gathered the quails: he that gathered the least, gathered ten [w]Homers full, and they spread them abroad for their use round about the host.
33 While the flesh was yet between their teeth, before it was chewed, even the wrath of the Lord was kindled against the people, and the Lord (E)smote the people with an exceeding great plague.
34 So the name of the place was called, [x]Kibroth Hattaavah: for there they buried the people that fell a lusting.
35 From Kibroth Hattaavah the people took their journey to Hazeroth, and abode at Hazeroth.
Footnotes
- Numbers 11:1 Hebrew, as unjust complainers.
- Numbers 11:1 Hebrew, it was evil in the ears of the Lord.
- Numbers 11:3 Or, burning.
- Numbers 11:4 Which were of those strangers that came out of Egypt with them, Exod. 12:38.
- Numbers 11:4 From God.
- Numbers 11:5 For a small price, or good cheap.
- Numbers 11:6 For the greedy lust of flesh.
- Numbers 11:7 Which is a white pearl, or precious stone.
- Numbers 11:11 Or, evil intreated.
- Numbers 11:11 Or, wherein have I displeased thee?
- Numbers 11:12 Am I their father, that none may have the charge of them but I?
- Numbers 11:12 Of Canaan promised by an oath to our fathers.
- Numbers 11:15 I had rather die than to see my grief and misery thus daily increase by their rebellion.
- Numbers 11:17 I will distribute my spirit among them, as I have done to thee.
- Numbers 11:18 Prepare yourselves that ye be not unclean.
- Numbers 11:20 Or, cast him off, because ye refused Manna, which he appointed as most meet for you.
- Numbers 11:20 Who leadeth and governeth you.
- Numbers 11:21 Of whom I have the charge.
- Numbers 11:25 Or, separated, verse 17.
- Numbers 11:25 From that day the spirit of prophecy did not fail them.
- Numbers 11:28 Or, a young man whom he had chosen from his youth.
- Numbers 11:28 Such blind zeal was in the Apostles, Mark 9:38; Luke 9:44.
- Numbers 11:32 Of Homer, read Lev. 27:16, also it signifieth an heap, as Exod. 8:14; Judg. 15:16.
- Numbers 11:34 Or, graves of lust.
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