Now the (A)rabble who were among them [a]had greedy cravings; and the sons of Israel also wept again and said, “(B)Who will give us [b]meat to eat? (C)We remember the fish which we used to eat for free in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the leeks, the onions, and the garlic; but now (D)our [c]appetite is gone. There is nothing at all [d]to look at except this manna!”

(E)Now the manna was like coriander seed, and its appearance like that of [e](F)bdellium. The people would roam about and gather it and grind it [f]between two millstones, or pound it in the mortar, and boil it in the pot and make loaves with it; and its taste was like the taste of [g]cake baked with oil. (G)When the dew came down on the camp at night, the manna would come down [h]with it.

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 11:4 Lit desired a desire
  2. Numbers 11:4 Lit flesh, and so throughout the ch
  3. Numbers 11:6 Lit soul has dried up
  4. Numbers 11:6 Lit for our eyes
  5. Numbers 11:7 I.e., a tree gum
  6. Numbers 11:8 Lit with
  7. Numbers 11:8 Lit juice of oil
  8. Numbers 11:9 Lit on

Then the foreign rabble who were traveling with the Israelites began to crave the good things of Egypt. And the people of Israel also began to complain. “Oh, for some meat!” they exclaimed. “We remember the fish we used to eat for free in Egypt. And we had all the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic we wanted. But now our appetites are gone. All we ever see is this manna!”

The manna looked like small coriander seeds, and it was pale yellow like gum resin. The people would go out and gather it from the ground. They made flour by grinding it with hand mills or pounding it in mortars. Then they boiled it in a pot and made it into flat cakes. These cakes tasted like pastries baked with olive oil. The manna came down on the camp with the dew during the night.

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