Numbers 11
1 In the mean time there arose a murmuring of the people against the Lord, as it were repining at their fatigue. And when the Lord heard it he was angry. And the fire of the Lord being kindled against them, devoured them that were at the uttermost part of the camp.
It wasn't long before the people started to complain about how much they were suffering. When the Lord heard what they were saying, he became angry. Fire from the Lord burned them, destroying some on the edge of the camp.
2 And when the people cried to Moses, Moses prayed to the Lord, and the fire was swallowed up.
The people cried to Moses for help. He prayed to the Lord and the fire subsided.
3 And he called the name of that place, The burning: for that the fire of the Lord had been kindled against them.
So that place was named Taberah, because the fire from the Lord burned them.
4 For a mixt multitude of people, that came up with them, burned with desire, sitting and weeping, the children of Israel also being joined with them, and said: Who shall give us flesh to eat?
A group of troublemakers among them had such intense food cravings they affected the Israelites who started crying again, asking “Who's going to get us some meat to eat?
5 We remember the Ash that we ate in Egypt free cost: the cucumbers come into our mind, and the melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlic.
We think back to all the fish we ate in Egypt that didn't cost us anything, as well as the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic.
6 Our soul is dry, our eyes behold nothing else but manna.
We're fading away here! The only thing we ever see is this manna!”
7 A Now the manna was like coriander seed, of the colour of bdellium.
Manna looked like coriander seeds, light in color like gum resin.
8 And the people went about, and gathering it, ground it in a mill, or beat it in a mortar, and boiled it in a pot, and made cakes thereof of the taste of bread tempered with oil.
The people would go out and collect it, grind it up in a mill or crush it in a mortar. Then they would boil it in a pot and make it into flatbread. It tasted like pastries made with the best olive oil.
9 And when the dew fell in the night upon the camp, the manna also fell with it.
When the dew came down on the camp at night the manna would come down with it.
10 Now Moses heard the people weeping by their families, every one at the door of his tent. And the wrath of the Lord was exceedingly enkindled: to Moses also the thing seemed insupportable.
Moses heard all the families crying at the entrance to their tents. The Lord became very angry, and Moses was also upset.
11 And he said to the Lord: Why hast thou afflicted thy servant? wherefore do I not find favour before thee? and why hast thou laid the weight of all this people upon me?
He asked the Lord, “Why have you made things so tough for me, your servant? Why are you so unhappy with me that you have placed on me the heavy responsibility for all these people?
12 Have I conceived all this multitude, or begotten them, that thou shouldst say to me: Carry them in thy bosom as the nurse is wont to carry the little infant, and bear them into the land, for which thou hast sworn to their fathers?
Are they my children? Did I give birth to them, so you could tell me, ‘Hold them close to your chest like a nurse carrying a baby’ and take them to the land you promised to give to their forefathers?
13 Whence should I have flesh to give to so great a multitude? they weep against me, saying: Give us flesh that we may eat.
Where am I supposed to get meat for all of them? They keep on complaining to me, ‘Get us some meat to eat!’
14 I am not able alone to bear all this people, because it is too heavy for me.
I can't go on carrying all these people by myself—it's just too much.
15 But if it seem unto thee otherwise, I beseech thee to kill me, and let me find grace in thy eyes, that I be not afflicted with so great evils.
If this is the way you're going to treat me, then please just kill me now so I don't have to face how depressed I've become. Please grant me this one request.”
16 And the Lord said to Moses: Gather unto me seventy men of the ancients of Israel, whom thou knowest to be ancients and masters of the people: and thou shalt bring them to the door of the tabernacle of the covenant, and shalt make them stand there with thee,
The Lord told Moses, “Bring before me seventy Israelite elders who you know are repected as leaders by the people Take them to the Tent of Meeting. They will stand there with you.
17 That I may come down and speak with thee: and I will take of thy spirit, and will give to them, that they may bear with thee the burden of the people, and thou mayest not be burthened alone.
I will come down and talk with you there. I will take some of the Spirit you have and give it to them. They will take some of the responsibility for the people so you won't have to bear it alone.
18 And thou shalt say to the people: Be ye sanctified: tomorrow you shall eat flesh: for I have heard you say: Who will give us flesh to eat? it was well with us in Egypt. That the Lord may give you flesh, and you may eat:
Tell the people: Purify yourselves, for tomorrow you'll have meat to eat, because you were complaining and the Lord heard you saying, ‘Who's going to get us some meat to eat? We were better off in Egypt!’ So the Lord is going to provide you with meat to eat.
19 Not for one day, nor two, nor five, nor ten, no nor for twenty.
You're going to eat it, not for just a day or two, and not for five or ten or twenty days.
20 But even for a month of days, till it come out at your nostrils, and become loathsome to you, because you have cast off the Lord, who is in the midst of you, and have wept before him, saying: Why came we out of Egypt?
You're going to eat it for a whole month until it makes you vomit and it comes out through your nostrils, because you have rejected the Lord who is right here with you, complaining to him by saying, ‘Why on earth did we ever leave Egypt?’”
21 And Moses said: There are six hundred thousand footmen of this people, and sayest thou: I will give them flesh to eat a whole month?
But Moses replied, “Here I am with 600,000 people and you're telling me, ‘I'm going to give them meat and they'll eat it for a month’?
22 Shall then a multitude of sheep and oxen be killed, that it may suffice for their food? or shall the fishes of the sea be gathered together to fill them?
Even if all our flocks and herds were slaughtered, would that be enough for them? Even if all the fish in the sea were caught, would that be enough for them?”
23 And the Lord answered him: Is the hand of the Lord unable? Thou shalt presently see whether my word shall come to pass or no.
“Doesn't the Lord have the power to do that?” the Lord responded. “Now you're going to find out whether what I've said will happen or not!”
24 Moses therefore came, and told the people the words of the Lord, and assembled seventy men of the ancients of Israel, and made them to stand about the tabernacle.
Moses went and shared with the people what the Lord said. He summoned seventy elders of the people and had them stand around the tent.
25 And the Lord came down in a cloud, and spoke to him, taking away of the spirit that was in Moses, and giving to the seventy men. And when the spirit had rested on them they prophesied, nor did they cease afterwards.
Then the Lord came down and talked to him. The Lord took some of the Spirit Moses had and gave it to them. They prophesied, but this didn't ever happen again.
26 Now there remained in the camp two of the men, of whom one was called Eldad, and the other Medad, upon whom the spirit rested; for they also had been enrolled, but were not gone forth to the tabernacle.
However, two men named Eldad and Medad had stayed behind in the camp. The Spirit came on them too. (They had been put on the list of the seventy elders, but they hadn't gone to the tent. But they prophesied where they were in the camp anyway.)
27 And when they prophesied in the camp, there ran a young man, and told Moses, saying: Eldad and Medad prophesy in the camp.
A young lad ran and told Moses, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
28 Forthwith Josue the son of Nun, the minister of Moses, and chosen out of many, said: My lord Moses forbid them.
Joshua, son of Nun, who had been Moses' assistant since he was young, reacted, saying, “Moses, my lord, you have to stop them!”
29 But he said: Why hast thou emulation for me? O that all the people might prophesy, and that the Lord would give them his spirit!
“Are you jealous for my reputation?” Moses replied. “I wish that every one of the Lord's people were prophets and that the Lord would give his Spirit to all of them!”
30 And Moses returned, with the ancients of Israel, into the camp.
Then Moses went back to the camp with the elders of Israel.
31 And a wind going out from the Lord, taking quails up beyond the sea brought them, and cast them into the camp for the space of one day’s journey, on every side of the camp round about, and they flew in the air two cubits high above the ground.
The Lord sent a wind that blew quail in from the sea and deposited them near the camp. They covered the ground to a depth of about two cubits and extended for a day's journey in every direction from the camp.
32 The people therefore rising up all that day, and night, and the next day, gathered together of quails, he that did least, ten cores: and they dried them round about the camp.
All through that day and night, and all through the next day, the people went on collecting the quail. Everyone collected at least ten homers, and they spread them out to dry all around the camp.
33 As yet the flesh was between their teeth, neither had that kind of meat failed: when behold the wrath of the Lord being provoked against the people, struck them with an exceeding great plague.
But while the people were still biting into the meat, before they even chewed it down, the Lord showed his burning anger against them, killing some of them with a severe disease.
34 And that place was called, The graves of lust: for there they buried the people that had lusted.
They named that place Kibroth-hattaavah, because that was where they buried the people who had these intense food cravings.
35 And departing from the graves of lust, they came unto Haseroth, and abode there.
Then they moved on from Kibroth-hattaavah to Hazeroth, where they stayed for some time.
