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The Spirit Rests upon the Elders

16 Yahweh therefore said to Moses, “Gather for Me (A)seventy men from the elders of Israel, (B)whom you know to be the elders of the people and their officers, and take them to the tent of meeting, and let them take their stand there with you. 17 (C)Then I will come down and speak with you there, and I will take of (D)the Spirit who is upon you, and will put Him upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with you, so that you will not bear it all alone. 18 And say to the people, ‘(E)Set yourselves apart as holy for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept (F)in the ears of Yahweh, saying, “Oh that someone would give us meat to eat! For it was good for us in Egypt.” Therefore Yahweh 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 [a]but a whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you; because (G)you have rejected Yahweh who is among you and have wept before Him, saying, “Why did we ever go out from Egypt?”’” 21 But Moses said, “The people, among whom I am, are 600,000 on foot; yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat, so that they may eat for a whole month.’ 22 Should flocks and herds be slaughtered for them, to be sufficient for them? Or should all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be sufficient for them?” 23 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Is (H)Yahweh’s [b]power limited? Now you shall see whether (I)My word will happen for you or not.”

24 So Moses went out and (J)told the people the words of Yahweh. Also, he gathered seventy men of the elders of the people and had them stand around the tent. 25 (K)Then Yahweh came down in the cloud and spoke to him; and He took of the Spirit who was upon him and placed Him upon the seventy elders. And when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied. But they did not do it again.

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 11:20 Lit until
  2. Numbers 11:23 Lit hand short

16 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Gather for me seventy men from the elders of Israel whom you know are elders of the people and their[a] officials; take them to the tent of assembly, and they will stand there with you. 17 I will come down and speak with you there; I will take away from the spirit that is on you, and I will place it on them; and they will bear the burdens of the people with you; you will not bear it alone. 18 And you will say to the people, ‘Sanctify yourselves tomorrow, for you will eat meat because you have wept in the ears of Yahweh, saying, “Who will feed us good meat? It was good for us in Egypt.” Yahweh will give to you meat, and you will eat. 19 You will eat, not one day, or two days, or five days, or ten days, or twenty days, 20 but for a whole month,[b] until it comes out from your nose and becomes as nausea to you; because you have rejected Yahweh, who is in your midst, and you wept before his presence,[c] saying, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’” 21 But Moses said, “There are six hundred thousand on foot, among whom I am in the midst, and you yourself said, ‘I will give meat to them, and they will eat for a whole month.’ 22 Should flocks and cattle be slaughtered for them? Should all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to be enough for them?” 23 And Yahweh said to Moses, “Is Yahweh’s power limited?[d] Now you will see if my word will happen or not.”

24 So Moses went out, and he spoke the words of Yahweh to the people, and he gathered together seventy men from the elders of the people, and he made them stand[e] all around the tent. 25 Then Yahweh went down in the cloud and spoke to him, and he took away the spirit that was on him, and he put it[f] on the seventy elders. And as soon as the spirit was resting on them they prophesied, but they did not do it again.

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 11:16 Hebrew “his/its”
  2. Numbers 11:20 Literally “until a period of one month”
  3. Numbers 11:20 Literally “before his face”
  4. Numbers 11:23 Literally “Is Yahweh’s hand short?”
  5. Numbers 11:24 Literally “caused them to stand”
  6. Numbers 11:25 Or “gave it”