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10 Moses heard every ·family [clan] ·crying [weeping] as they stood in the entrances of their tents. Then the Lord became very angry, and ·Moses got upset [L it was bad in the eyes of Moses]. 11 He asked the Lord, “Why have you brought me, your servant, this trouble? ·What have I done wrong [L Why have I not found favor in your eyes] that you ·made me responsible [L set the burden on me] for all these people? 12 ·I am not the father of [L Did I conceive/Am I the mother of] all these people, and ·I didn’t [L did I…?] give birth to them. So why do you make me carry them to the land you promised to our ancestors? Must I carry them in my ·arms [L bosom] as a nurse carries a baby? 13 Where can I get meat for all these people? They keep crying to me, ‘We want meat!’ 14 I can’t take care of all these people alone. It is too ·much [difficult; L heavy] for me. 15 If you are going to continue doing this to me, then kill me now. If ·you care about me [L I have found favor in your eyes], put me to death, and ·then I won’t have [L do not let me see] any more troubles.”

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The Complaint of Moses

10 Now Moses heard the people weeping [in self-pity] throughout their families, every man at the doorway of his tent; and the anger of the Lord blazed hotly, and [a]Moses regarded their behavior as evil. 11 So Moses said to the Lord, “Why have You been so hard on Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight, that You have placed the burden of all these people on me? 12 Was it I who conceived all these people? Was it I who brought them forth, that You should say to me, ‘Carry them in your [b]arms as a nurse carries the nursing infant, to the land which You swore to their fathers’? 13 Where am I to get meat to give to all these people? For they weep before me and say, ‘Give us meat, so that we may eat.’ 14 I am not able to carry all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for me. 15 So if this is the way You are going to deal with me, please kill me at once, if I have found favor in your sight, and do not let me see my wretchedness.”

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 11:10 Lit it was evil in Moses’ sight.
  2. Numbers 11:12 Lit bosom.