Open English Translation NUM Chapter 11

11 One day, the people were complaining about their situation and when Yahweh heard them, it made him angry so he sent a fire that burnt up the edges of their camp. 2 The people cried out to Mosheh for help, and he prayed to Yahweh, and the fire stopped, 3 and they named that place Taverah (which means ‘burning’) because Yahweh’s fire had burnt among them.

4 However, there was a group of stirrers among the people that badly wanted to have meat and other foods to eat. That spread to all the Israelis who wept and asked, “Who’ll give us meat to eat? 5 We remember the fish that we ate in Egypt for free, as well as the cucumbers, melons, leeks, onions, and garlic, 6 but now our appetite has shrivelled up because we don’t see anything to eat except this ‘stuff’.”

7 (The ‘stuff’ they ate every day was a bit like coriander seed except kind of clear.[ref] 8 Each morning the people went around gathering it, then ground it with a stone mill or pounded it in a mortar, then they boiled it and made something like bread rolls with it. They tasted like fresh olive oil. 9 The ‘stuff’ actually descended on the camp during the night with the dew.)[ref]

10 Mosheh heard the people weeping in their tents (set up by tribe and clan). He thought it was wrong, and it made Yahweh very angry. 11 So Mosheh asked Yahweh, “Why have you caused me, your servant, to be in trouble like this? Don’t you approve of me?. Why has the burden of all this people group landed on me? 12 Was it me who conceived it? Did I carry it to the land promised to their ancestors, like I was a wet-nurse? 13 All these people come to me to ask me to give them meat to eat. Where would I get enough meat to feed all them? 14 I can’t bear the load of this entire people group by myself—it’s too heavy for me. 15 If that’s what you’re doing to me, please kill me now if I’ve found favour in your eyes. Then I wouldn’t have to suffer like this.”

16 Then Yahweh told Mosheh, “Bring me seventy of Yisrael’s elders who you know are good leaders, and take them to the sacred tent, and let them take their positions there with you. 17 I’ll come down and talk with you there, and I’ll take some of the spirit that’s on you and put it on them, and then they’ll carry the burden of the people along with you. Then you won’t have to carry it by yourself. 18 Also, tell the people that because they wept in my hearing about not having meat to eat like you all did in Egypt, they must purify themselves for tomorrow, because I’ll provide meat for you all to eat. 19 You won’t just have meat for a day or two, or for five, ten, or twenty days, 20 you have it for a whole month until it comes out your nostrils. Yes, it’ll make you all nauseous because you rejected Yahweh who’s among you, and you all wept in front of him, complaining, ‘Why did we ever leave Egypt?’ ”

21 Mosheh queried, “There’s 600,000 able to serve in the army plus women and children, yet you say that you’ll give them all enough meat to eat every day for month! 22 Even if we killed all the cattle and sheep, or caught all the fish in the sea, that wouldn’t be enough meat for all them.”

23 “Do you think that Yahweh’s powerless?” Yahweh replied. “Soon you’ll see whether or not my statement will come true.”

24 So Mosheh went out and passed on Yahweh’s message to the people. Then he gathered seventy men from the Israeli elders and stood them around the tent. 25 Then Yahweh came down in the cloud and spoke to Mosheh, and he took some of the spirit away from him and put it on those seventy elders. As the spirit rested on them, they prophesied (but they never did that again).

26 Two of the men who were listed (named Eldad and Meydad), had remained in the main camp (not going to the sacred tent), and the spirit had also rested on them and they prophesied in the camp. 27 A young man ran to Mosheh and told him that Eldad and Meydad were prophesying there in the camp.

28 Then Nun’s son Yehoshua (who had helped Mosheh since his youth) responded, “My master Mosheh, stop them from that.”

29 But Mosheh replied, “Are you being jealous on my behalf? I’d be happy if Yahweh would put his spirit on all the people and make them into prophets.” 30 Then Mosheh and the elders went back to their tents.

31 Then Yahweh sent a wind that blew quails from the ocean, and they dropped on the ground a day’s walk in every direction around the camp until they were piled a metre high. 32 So the people went out and collected the quail—each family getting at least the equivalent of ten large barrels full, and they spread the meat around the camp to sun dry. 33 Then when they started to cook and eat some of the fresh meat, Yahweh got very angry and struck the people with a terrible plague before they could even chew it. 34 So that place was named Kivrot-Hattaavah (which means ‘Graves of the cravers’), because that was where they buried the people who had craved meat. 35 From Kivrot-Hattaavah, the people moved on to Hatserot and stayed there.