13 Where should I get flesh to give to all this people? for they weep to me, saying, Give us flesh, that we may eat.
14 I am not able to bear all this people alone, because it is too heavy for me.
15 And if thou dealest thus with me, kill me, I pray thee, out of hand, if I have found favour in thy sight; and let me not see my wretchedness.
16 And the LORD said to Moses, Gather to me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom thou knowest to be the elders of the people, and officers over them; and bring them to the tabernacle of the congregation, that they may stand there with thee.
17 And I will come down and talk with thee there: and I will take of the Spirit who is upon thee, and will put it upon them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou mayest not bear it thyself alone.
18 And say thou to the people, Sanctify yourselves for to morrow, and ye shall eat flesh: for ye have wept in the ears of the LORD, saying, Who shall give us flesh to eat? for it was well with us in Egypt: therefore the LORD will give you flesh, and ye shall eat.
19 Ye shall not eat one day, nor two days, nor five days, neither ten days, nor twenty days;
20 But even a whole month, until it shall come out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome to you: because ye have despised the LORD who is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came we forth out of Egypt? [1]
21 And Moses said, The people, among whom I am, are six hundred thousand footmen; and thou hast said, I will give them flesh, that they may eat a whole month.
22 Shall the flocks and the herds be slain for them, to suffice for them? or shall all the fish of the sea be gathered together for them, to suffice for them?
23 And the LORD said to Moses, Is the LORD’S hand shortened? thou shalt see now whether my word shall come to pass to thee or not.
24 And Moses went out, and told the people the words of the LORD, and gathered the seventy men of the elders of the people, and set them around the tabernacle.
25 And the LORD came down in a cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the spirit that was upon him, and gave it to the seventy elders: and it came to pass, that, when the spirit rested upon them, they prophesied, and did not cease.
26 But there remained two of the men in the camp, the name of the one was Eldad, and the name of the other Medad: and the spirit rested upon them; and they were of them that were recorded, but went not out to the tabernacle: and they prophesied in the camp.
27 And there ran a young man, and told Moses, and said, Eldad and Medad do prophesy in the camp.
28 And Joshua the son of Nun, the servant of Moses, one of his young men, answered and said, My lord Moses, forbid them.
29 And Moses said to him, Enviest thou for my sake? O that all the LORD’S people were prophets, and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!
30 And Moses withdrew into the camp, he and the elders of Israel.
31 And there went forth a wind from the LORD, and brought quails from the sea, and let them fall by the camp, as it were a day’s journey on this side, and as it were a day’s journey on the other side, around the camp, and as it were two cubits high upon the face of the earth. [2]
32 And the people stood up all that day, and all that night, and all the next day, and they gathered the quails: he that gathered least gathered ten homers: and they spread them all abroad for themselves around the camp.
33 And while the flesh was yet between their teeth, before it was chewed, the wrath of the LORD was kindled against the people, and the LORD smote the people with a very great plague.
34 And he called the name of that place Kibrothhattaavah: because there they buried the people that lusted. [3]
35 And the people journeyed from Kibrothhattaavah to Hazeroth; and abode at Hazeroth. [4]
CHAP. 12.
1 And Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses because of the Cushite woman whom he had married: for he had married a Cushite woman. [5] [6]
2 And they said, Hath the LORD indeed spoken only by Moses? hath he not spoken also by us? And the LORD heard it .
3 (Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men who were upon the face of the earth.)
4 And the LORD spoke suddenly to Moses, and to Aaron, and to Miriam, Come out ye three to the tabernacle of the congregation. And they three came out.
5 And the LORD came down in the pillar of the cloud, and stood in the door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam: and they both came forth.
6 And he said, Hear now my words: If there is a prophet among you, I the LORD will make myself known to him in a vision, and will speak to him in a dream.
7 My servant Moses is not so, who is faithful in all my house.
8 With him will I speak mouth to mouth, even plainly, and not in dark speeches; and the similitude of the LORD shall he behold: why then were ye not afraid to speak against my servant Moses?
9 And the anger of the LORD was kindled against them; and he departed.
