²⁴ So Moses left the Tabernacle and reported Jehovah’s words to the people; and he gathered the seventy elders and placed them around the Tabernacle. ²⁵ And the Lord came down in the Cloud and talked with Moses, and the Lord took of the Spirit that was upon Moses and put it upon the seventy elders; and when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied for some time.

²⁶ But two of the seventy—Eldad and Medad—were still in the camp, and when the Spirit rested upon them, they prophesied there. ²⁷ Some young men ran and told Moses what was happening, ²⁸ and Joshua (the son of Nun), one of Moses’ personally chosen assistants, protested, “Sir, make them stop!”

²⁹ But Moses replied, “Are you jealous for my sake? I only wish that all of the Lord’s people were prophets, and that the Lord would put his Spirit upon them all!” ³⁰ Then Moses returned to the camp with the elders of Israel.

³¹ The Lord sent a wind that brought quail from the sea and let them fall into the camp and all around it! As far as one could walk in a day in any direction, there were quail flying three or four feet above the ground.^{[a] 32} So the people caught and killed quail all that day and through the night and all the next day too! The least anyone gathered was 100 bushels! Quail were spread out all around^[b] the camp. ³³ But as everyone began eating the meat, the anger of the Lord rose against the people and he killed large numbers of them with a plague. ³⁴ So the name of that place was called, “The Place of the Graves Caused by Lust,”^[c] because they buried the people there who had lusted for meat and for Egypt. ³⁵ And from that place they journeyed to Hazeroth, where they stayed awhile.

12 One day Miriam and Aaron were criticizing Moses because his wife was a Cushite woman,^{[d] 2} and they said, “Has the Lord spoken only through Moses? Hasn’t he spoken through us, too?”

But the Lord heard them. ^3-4 Immediately he summoned Moses, Aaron, and Miriam to the Tabernacle: “Come here, you three,” he commanded. So they stood before the Lord. (Now Moses was the humblest man on earth.)

⁵ Then the Lord descended in the Cloud and stood at the entrance of the Tabernacle. “Aaron and Miriam, step forward,” he commanded; and they did. ⁶ And the Lord said to them, “Even with a prophet, I would communicate by visions and dreams; ^7-8 but that is not how I communicate with my servant Moses. He is completely at home in my house! With him I speak face-to-face! And he shall see the very form of God! Why then were you not afraid to criticize him?”

⁹ Then the anger of the Lord grew hot against them, and he departed. ¹⁰ As the Cloud moved from above the Tabernacle, Miriam suddenly became white with leprosy. When Aaron saw what had happened, ¹¹ he cried out to Moses, “Oh, sir, do not punish us for this sin; we were fools to do such a thing. ¹² Don’t let her be as one dead, whose body is half rotted away at birth.”

¹³ And Moses cried out to the Lord, “Heal her, O God, I beg you!”

¹⁴ And the Lord said to Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face she would be defiled seven days. Let her be banished from the camp for seven days, and after that she can come back again.”

¹⁵ So Miriam was excluded from the camp for seven days, and the people waited until she was brought back in before they traveled again. ¹⁶ Afterwards they left Hazeroth and camped in the wilderness of Paran.

13 Jehovah now instructed Moses, ² “Send spies into the land of Canaan—the land I am giving to Israel; send one leader from each tribe.”

^3-15 (The Israelis were camped in the wilderness of Paran at the time.) Moses did as the Lord had commanded and sent these twelve tribal leaders:

¹⁶ It was at this time that Moses changed Hoshea’s name to Joshua.^[f]

¹⁷ Moses sent them out with these instructions: “Go northward into the hill country of the Negeb, ¹⁸ and see what the land is like; see also what the people are like who live there, whether they are strong or weak, many or few; ¹⁹ and whether the land is fertile or not; and what cities there are, and whether they are villages or are fortified; ²⁰ whether the land is rich or poor, and whether there are many trees. Don’t be afraid, and bring back some samples of the crops you see.” (The first of the grapes were being harvested at that time.)

²¹ So they spied out the land all the way from the wilderness of Zin to Rehob near Hamath. ²² Going northward, they passed first through the Negeb and arrived at Hebron. There they saw the Ahimanites, Sheshites, and Talmites, all families descended from Anak. (By the way, Hebron was very ancient, having been founded seven years before Tanis^[g] in Egypt.) ²³ Then they came to what is now known as the valley of Eshcol where they cut down a single cluster of grapes so large that it took two of them to carry it on a pole between them! They also took some samples of the pomegranates and figs. ²⁴ The Israelis named the valley “Eshcol” at that time (meaning “Cluster”) because of the cluster of grapes they found!

²⁵ After forty days of exploration they returned from their tour. ²⁶ They made their report to Moses, Aaron, and all the people of Israel in the wilderness of Paran at Kadesh, and they showed the fruit they had brought with them.

²⁷ This was their report: “We arrived in the land you sent us to see, and it is indeed a magnificent country—a land ‘flowing with milk and honey.’ Here is some fruit we have brought as proof. ²⁸ But the people living there are powerful, and their cities are fortified and very large; and what’s more, we saw Anakim giants there! ²⁹ The Amalekites live in the south, while in the hill country there are the Hittites, Jebusites, and Amorites; down along the coast of the Mediterranean Sea and in the Jordan River Valley are the Canaanites.”

³⁰ But Caleb reassured the people as they stood before Moses. “Let us go up at once and possess it,” he said, “for we are well able to conquer it!”

³¹ “Not against people as strong as they are!” the other spies said. “They would crush us!”

³² So the majority report of the spies was negative: “The land is full of warriors, the people are powerfully built, ³³ and we saw some of the Anakim there, descendants of the ancient race of giants. We felt like grasshoppers before them, they were so tall!”

²² As they were eating, Jesus took bread and asked God’s blessing on it and broke it in pieces and gave it to them and said, “Eat it—this is my body.”

²³ Then he took a cup of wine and gave thanks to God for it and gave it to them; and they all drank from it. ²⁴ And he said to them, “This is my blood, poured out for many, sealing the new agreement^[a] between God and man. ²⁵ I solemnly declare that I shall never again taste wine until the day I drink a different kind^[b] in the Kingdom of God.”

²⁶ Then they sang a hymn and went out to the Mount of Olives.

²⁷ “All of you will desert me,” Jesus told them, “for God has declared through the prophets, ‘I will kill the Shepherd, and the sheep will scatter.’ ²⁸ But after I am raised to life again, I will go to Galilee and meet you there.”

²⁹ Peter said to him, “I will never desert you no matter what the others do!”

³⁰ “Peter,” Jesus said, “before the cock crows a second time tomorrow morning you will deny me three times.”

³¹ “No!” Peter exploded. “Not even if I have to die with you! I’ll never deny you!” And all the others vowed the same.

³² And now they came to an olive grove called the Garden of Gethsemane, and he instructed his disciples, “Sit here, while I go and pray.”

³³ He took Peter, James, and John with him and began to be filled with horror and deepest distress. ³⁴ And he said to them, “My soul is crushed by sorrow to the point of death; stay here and watch with me.”

³⁵ He went on a little farther and fell to the ground and prayed that if it were possible the awful hour awaiting him might never come.^[c]

³⁶ “Father, Father,” he said, “everything is possible for you. Take away this cup from me. Yet I want your will, not mine.”

³⁷ Then he returned to the three disciples and found them asleep.

“Simon!” he said. “Asleep? Couldn’t you watch with me even one hour? ³⁸ Watch with me and pray lest the Tempter overpower you. For though the spirit is willing enough, the body is weak.”

³⁹ And he went away again and prayed, repeating his pleadings. ⁴⁰ Again he returned to them and found them sleeping, for they were very tired. And they didn’t know what to say.

⁴¹ The third time when he returned to them he said, “Sleep on; get your rest! But no! The time for sleep has ended! Look! I am^[d] betrayed into the hands of wicked men. ⁴² Come! Get up! We must go! Look! My betrayer is here!”

⁴³ And immediately, while he was still speaking, Judas (one of his disciples) arrived with a mob equipped with swords and clubs, sent out by the chief priests and other Jewish leaders.

⁴⁴ Judas had told them, “You will know which one to arrest when I go over and greet^[e] him. Then you can take him easily.” ⁴⁵ So as soon as they arrived he walked up to Jesus. “Master!” he exclaimed, and embraced him with a great show of friendliness. ⁴⁶ Then the mob arrested Jesus and held him fast. ⁴⁷ But someone^[f] pulled a sword and slashed at the high priest’s servant, cutting off his ear.

⁴⁸ Jesus asked them, “Am I some dangerous robber, that you come like this, armed to the teeth to capture me? ⁴⁹ Why didn’t you arrest me in the Temple? I was there teaching every day. But these things are happening to fulfill the prophecies about me.”

⁵⁰ Meanwhile, all his disciples had fled. ^51-52 There was, however, a young man following along behind, clothed only in a linen nightshirt.^[g] When the mob tried to grab him, he escaped, though his clothes were torn off in the process, so that he ran away completely naked.

52 Written by David to protest against his enemy Doeg (1 Samuel 22), who later slaughtered eighty-five priests and their families.

You call yourself a hero, do you? You boast about this evil deed of yours against God’s people. ² You are sharp as a tack in plotting your evil tricks. ³ How you love wickedness—far more than good! And lying more than truth! ⁴ You love to slander—you love to say anything that will do harm, O man with the lying tongue.

⁵ But God will strike you down, pull you from your home, and drag you away from the land of the living. ⁶ The followers of God will see it happen. They will watch in awe. Then they will laugh and say, ⁷ “See what happens to those who despise God and trust in their wealth, and become ever more bold in their wickedness.”^[a]

⁸ But I am like a sheltered olive tree protected by the Lord himself. I trust in the mercy of God forever and ever. ⁹ O Lord, I will praise you forever and ever for your punishment.^[b] And I will wait for your mercies—for everyone knows what a merciful God you are.

11 The Lord hates cheating and delights in honesty.

² Proud men end in shame, but the meek become wise.

³ A good man is guided by his honesty; the evil man is destroyed by his dishonesty.