1: And when the people complained, it displeased
the LORD: and the LORD heard it; and his anger was kindled; and the fire of the
LORD burnt among them, and consumed them that were in the uttermost parts of the
camp.
2: And the people cried unto Moses; and when Moses prayed unto
the LORD, the fire was quenched.
3: And he called the name of the
place Taberah: because the fire of the LORD burnt among them.
4: And
the mixt multitude that was among them fell a lusting: and the children of
Israel also wept again, and said, Who shall give us flesh to eat?
5:
We remember the fish, which we did eat in Egypt freely; the cucumbers, and the
melons, and the leeks, and the onions, and the garlick:
6: But our
soul is dried away: there is nothing at all, beside this manna, before our eyes.
7: And the manna was as coriander seed, and the colour thereof as the
colour of bdellium.
8: And the people went about, and gathered it,
and ground it in mills, or beat it in a mortar, and baked it in pans, and made
cakes of it: and the taste of it was as the taste of fresh oil.
9:
And when the dew fell upon the camp in the night, the manna fell upon it.
10: Then Moses heard the people weep throughout their families, every
man in the door of his tent: and the anger of the LORD was kindled greatly;
Moses also was displeased.
11: And Moses said unto the LORD,
Wherefore hast thou afflicted thy servant? and wherefore have I not found favour
in thy sight, that thou layest the burden of all this people upon me?
12: Have I conceived all this people? have I begotten them, that thou
shouldest say unto me, Carry them in thy bosom, as a nursing father beareth the
sucking child, unto the land which thou swarest unto their fathers?
13: Whence should I have flesh to give unto all this people? for they
weep unto 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 deal 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 unto Moses, Gather unto 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 unto 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 which is upon thee, and will put it upon
them; and they shall bear the burden of the people with thee, that thou bear it
not thyself alone.
18: And say thou unto the people, Sanctify
yourselves against 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 come
out at your nostrils, and it be loathsome unto you: because that ye have
despised the LORD which is among you, and have wept before him, saying, Why came
we forth out of Egypt?
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 them? or shall all the fish of the sea be
gathered together for them, to suffice them?
23: And the LORD said
unto Moses, Is the LORD's hand waxed short? thou shalt see now whether my word
shall come to pass unto 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 round about the tabernacle.
25: And the LORD
came down in a cloud, and spake unto him, and took of the spirit that was upon
him, and gave it unto 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 written, but went not out unto 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 unto him,
Enviest thou for my sake? would God that all the LORD's people were prophets,
and that the LORD would put his spirit upon them!
30: And Moses gat
him 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, round about the camp, and as it were two cubits high
upon the face of the earth.
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 round about the camp.
33: And while the flesh was yet
between their teeth, ere 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 Kibroth-hattaavah: because
there they buried the people that lusted.
35: And the people
journeyed from Kibroth-hattaavah unto Hazeroth; and abode at Hazeroth.