Beginning
Fire from the Lord
11 The people complained to the Lord about their troubles. When he heard them, he became angry. Fire from the Lord burned among the people. It burned the edge of the camp. 2 So the people cried out to Moses. He prayed to the Lord, and the fire stopped burning. 3 So that place was called Taberah.[a] The people named it that because the Lord’s fire had burned among them.
The 70 Older Leaders
4 Some troublemakers among them wanted better food. Soon all the Israelites began complaining. They said, “We want meat! 5 We remember the fish we ate for free in Egypt. We also had cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions and garlic. 6 But now we have lost our appetite. We never see anything but this manna!”
7 The manna was like small white seeds. 8 The people would go to gather it. Then they ground it in handmills. Or they crushed it between stones. They cooked it in a pot or made cakes with it. It tasted like bread baked with olive oil. 9 When the dew fell on the camp each night, so did the manna.
10 Moses heard every family crying. They stood in the entrances of their tents. The Lord became very angry. And Moses got upset. 11 He asked the Lord, “Why have you brought me this trouble? I’m your servant. What have I done wrong? Why did you make me responsible for all these people? 12 I am not the father of all these people. I didn’t give birth to them. Why do you make me carry them to the land you promised to our ancestors? Must I carry them in my arms 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 for me. 15 If you are going to continue doing this to me, then kill me now. If you like me, put me to death. Then I won’t have any more troubles.”
16 The Lord said to Moses, “Bring me 70 of Israel’s elders. Pick men you know are leaders among the people. Bring them to the Meeting Tent. Have them stand there with you. 17 I will come down and speak with you there. I will take some of the Spirit that is in you. And I will give it to them. They will help you care for the people. Then you will not have to care for them alone.
18 “Tell the people this: ‘Make yourselves holy. Tomorrow you will eat meat. The Lord heard you cry, “We want meat! We were better off in Egypt!” So now the Lord will give you meat to eat. 19 You will not eat it for just 1, 2, 5, 10 or even 20 days. 20 You will eat that meat for a whole month. You will eat it until it comes out your nose. You will hate it. This is because you have rejected the Lord. He is here with you. But you have cried to him. You said, “Why did we ever leave Egypt?”’”
21 Moses said, “Lord, here are 600,000 men standing around me. And you say, ‘I will give them enough meat to eat for a month!’ 22 If we killed all the sheep and cattle, that would not be enough. If we caught all the fish in the sea, that would not be enough.”
23 But the Lord said to Moses, “Do you think I’m weak? You will see if I can do what I say.”
24 So Moses went out to the people. He told them what the Lord had said. Moses gathered 70 of the elders together. He had them stand around the Tent. 25 Then the Lord came down in the cloud and spoke to Moses. The Lord took some of the Spirit Moses had. And he gave it to the 70 leaders. With the Spirit in them, they prophesied, but just that one time.
26 Two men named Eldad and Medad were also listed as leaders. But they did not go to the Tent. They stayed in the camp. The Spirit was given to them. So they prophesied in the camp. 27 A young man ran to Moses. He said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
28 Joshua son of Nun said, “Moses, my master, stop them!” (Since he was a young boy, Joshua had been Moses’ assistant.)
29 But Moses answered, “Are you afraid for me? I wish all the Lord’s people could prophesy. I wish the Lord would give his Spirit to all of them!” 30 Then Moses and the leaders of Israel went back to the camp.
The Quail Come
31 The Lord sent a strong wind from the sea. It blew quail into the area all around the camp. The quail were about three feet above the ground. There were quail a day’s walk in any direction. 32 The people went out and gathered quail. They gathered all that day, that night and the next day. Everyone gathered at least 60 bushels. Then they spread them around the camp. 33 But the Lord became very angry. He gave the people a terrible sickness. This came while the meat was still in their mouths. 34 So the people named that place Kibroth Hattaavah.[b] They named it that because there they buried those who wanted other food.
35 From Kibroth Hattaavah the people went to stay at Hazeroth.
Miriam and Aaron Speak Against Moses’ Wife
12 Miriam and Aaron began to talk against Moses, who had married a Cushite. 2 They said to themselves, “Is Moses the only one the Lord speaks through? Doesn’t he speak through us?” And the Lord heard this.
3 (Now Moses was very humble. He was the least proud person on earth.)
4 So the Lord suddenly spoke to Moses, Aaron and Miriam. He said, “All three of you come to the Meeting Tent now.” So they went. 5 The Lord came down in a pillar of cloud. He stood at the entrance to the Tent. He called to Aaron and Miriam, and they both came near. 6 He said, “Listen to my words:
When a prophet is among you,
I, the Lord, will show myself to him in visions.
I will speak to him in dreams.
7 But this is not true with my servant Moses.
I trust him to lead all my people.
8 I speak face to face with him.
I speak clearly, not with hidden meanings.
He has even seen the form of the Lord.
You should be afraid
to speak against my servant Moses.”
9 The Lord was very angry with them, but he left.
10 The cloud lifted from the Tent. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam. She was as white as snow. She had a harmful skin disease. 11 Aaron said to Moses, “Please, my master, forgive us for our foolish sin. 12 Don’t let her be like a baby who is born dead. (Sometimes a baby is born with half of its flesh eaten away.)”
13 So Moses cried out to the Lord, “God, please heal her!”
14 The Lord answered Moses, “If her father had spit in her face, she would have been shamed for seven days. So put her outside the camp for seven days. After that, she may come back.” 15 So Miriam was shut outside of the camp for seven days. And the people did not move on until she came back.
16 After that, the people left Hazeroth. And they camped in the Desert of Paran.
The Spies Explore Canaan
13 The Lord said to Moses, 2 “Send men to explore the land of Canaan. I will give that land to the Israelites. Send one leader from each tribe.”
3 So Moses obeyed the Lord’s command. He sent the Israelite leaders out from the Desert of Paran. 4 These are their names: from the tribe of Reuben, Shammua son of Zaccur; 5 from the tribe of Simeon, Shaphat son of Hori; 6 from the tribe of Judah, Caleb son of Jephunneh; 7 from the tribe of Issachar, Igal son of Joseph; 8 from the tribe of Ephraim, Hoshea son of Nun; 9 from the tribe of Benjamin, Palti son of Raphu; 10 from the tribe of Zebulun, Gaddiel son of Sodi; 11 from the tribe of Manasseh (a tribe of Joseph), Gaddi son of Susi; 12 from the tribe of Dan, Ammiel son of Gamalli; 13 from the tribe of Asher, Sethur son of Michael; 14 from the tribe of Naphtali, Nahbi son of Vophsi; 15 from the tribe of Gad, Geuel son of Maki.
16 These are the names of the men Moses sent to explore the land. (Moses gave Hoshea son of Nun the new name Joshua.)
17 Moses sent them to explore Canaan. He said, “Go through southern Canaan and then into the mountains. 18 See what the land looks like. Are the people who live there strong or weak? Are there a few or many? 19 What kind of land do they live in? Is it good or bad? What about the towns they live in—do they have walls, or are they open like camps? 20 What about the soil? Is it fertile or poor? Are there trees there? Try to bring back some of the fruit from that land.” (It was the season for the first grapes.)
21 So they went up and explored the land. They went from the Desert of Zin all the way to Rehob by Lebo Hamath. 22 They went through the southern area to Hebron. That is where Ahiman, Sheshai and Talmai lived. They were the descendants of Anak. (The city of Hebron had been built seven years before Zoan in Egypt.) 23 In the Valley of Eshcol, they cut off a branch of a grapevine. It had one bunch of grapes on it. They carried that branch on a pole between two of them. They also got some pomegranates and figs. 24 They call that place the Valley of Eshcol.[c] That is because the Israelites cut off the bunch of grapes there. 25 After 40 days of exploring the land, the men returned to the camp.
26 They came back to Moses and Aaron and all the Israelites at Kadesh. This was in the Desert of Paran. The men reported to them and showed everybody the fruit from the land. 27 They told Moses, “We went to the land where you sent us. It is a land where much food grows! Here is some of its fruit. 28 But the people who live there are strong. Their cities are walled and large. We even saw some Anakites there. 29 The Amalekites live in the southern area. The Hittites, Jebusites and Amorites live in the mountains. The Canaanites live near the sea and along the Jordan River.”
30 Then Caleb told the people near Moses to be quiet. Caleb said, “We should go up and take the land for ourselves. We can do it.”
31 But the men who had gone with him said, “We can’t attack those people. They are stronger than we are.” 32 And those men gave the Israelites a bad report about the land they explored. They said, “The land would eat us up. All the people we saw are very tall. 33 We saw the Nephilim people there. (The Anakites come from the Nephilim people.) We felt like grasshoppers. And we looked like grasshoppers to them.”
The Holy Bible, International Children’s Bible® Copyright© 1986, 1988, 1999, 2015 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission.