Numbers 11:16-25

GOD’S WORD Translation

¹⁶ The Lord answered Moses, “Bring me 70 Israelite men who you know are leaders and officers of the people. Take them to the tent of meeting, and have them stand with you. ¹⁷ I’ll come down and speak with you there. I’ll take some of the Spirit that is on you and put it on them. They will help you take care of the people. You won’t have to take care of the people alone. ¹⁸ Tell the people to get ready for tomorrow. They must be set apart as holy. Then they will eat meat. I, the Lord, heard them crying and saying, ‘If only we had meat to eat! We were better off in Egypt!’ So I will give them meat. ¹⁹ They won’t eat it just for one or two days, or five, or ten, or twenty days, ²⁰ but for a whole month, until it comes out of their ears and they’re sick of it. This is because they rejected the Lord who is here among them and cried in front of him, asking, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’ ”

²¹ But Moses said, “Here I am with 600,000 foot soldiers around me. Yet, you say, ‘I will give them meat to eat for a whole month!’ ²² Would they have enough if all the flocks and herds were butchered for them? Would they have enough if all the fish in the sea were caught for them?”

²³ The Lord asked Moses, “Is there a limit to the Lord’s power? Now you will see whether or not my words come true.”

²⁴ Moses went out and told the people what the Lord said. He gathered 70 of the leaders of the people and had them stand around the tent. ²⁵ Then the Lord came down in the ⌞column of⌟ smoke and spoke with him. He took some of the Spirit that was on Moses and put it on the 70 leaders. When the Spirit came to rest on them, they prophesied, but they never prophesied again.