Numbers 11-12New King James Version (NKJV)
The People Complain
11 Now when the people
complained, it displeased the Lord; for the Lord heard it, and
His anger was aroused. So the fire of the Lord burned among them, and
consumed some in the outskirts of the camp. 2 Then
the people cried out to Moses, and when Moses prayed to the Lord, the fire
was quenched. 3 So he called the name of the place
Taberah,[a] because the fire of
the Lord had burned among them.
4 Now the mixed multitude who were
among them yielded to intense craving; so the children of Israel also wept
again and said: “Who will give us meat to eat? 5 We
remember the fish which we ate freely in Egypt, the cucumbers, the melons, the
leeks, the onions, and the garlic; 6 but now our
whole being is dried up; there is nothing at
all except this manna before our eyes!”
7 Now the manna was like
coriander seed, and its color like the color of bdellium. 8 The
people went about and gathered it, ground it on
millstones or beat it in the mortar, cooked it in
pans, and made cakes of it; and its taste was like the taste of pastry prepared
with oil. 9 And when the dew fell on the camp in
the night, the manna fell on it.
10 Then Moses heard the people
weeping throughout their families, everyone at the door of his tent; and the
anger of the Lord was greatly aroused; Moses also was
displeased. 11 So Moses said to the Lord, “Why
have You afflicted Your servant? And why have I not found favor in Your sight,
that You have laid the burden of all these people on me? 12 Did
I conceive all these people? Did I beget them, that You should say to me,
‘Carry them in your bosom, as a guardian carries a nursing child,’ to the land
which You swore to their fathers? 13 Where am I to
get meat to give to all these people? For they weep all over me, saying, ‘Give
us meat, that we may eat.’ 14 I am not able to bear
all these people alone, because the burden is too heavy for
me. 15 If You treat me like this, please kill me
here and now—if I have found favor in Your sight—and do not let me see my
wretchedness!”
The Seventy Elders
16 So the Lord said to
Moses: “Gather to Me seventy men of the elders of Israel, whom you know to be
the elders of the people and officers over them; bring them to the tabernacle
of meeting, that they may stand there with you. 17 Then
I will come down and talk with you there. I will take of the Spirit that is upon
you and will put the same upon them; and they shall bear the
burden of the people with you, that you may not bear it yourself
alone. 18 Then you shall say to the people, ‘Consecrate
yourselves for tomorrow, and you shall eat meat; for you have wept in the
hearing of the Lord, saying, “Who will give us meat to eat? For it
was well with us in Egypt.” Therefore the Lord will give you
meat, and you shall eat. 19 You shall eat, not one
day, nor two days, nor five days, nor ten days, nor twenty days, 20 but for a
whole month, until it comes out of your nostrils and becomes loathsome to you,
because you have despised the Lord who is among you, and have wept
before Him, saying, “Why did we ever come up out of Egypt?”’”
21 And Moses said, “The people whom
I am among are six hundred thousand men on
foot; yet You have said, ‘I will give them meat, that they may eat for a
whole month.’ 22 Shall flocks and herds be
slaughtered for them, to provide enough for them? Or shall all the fish of the
sea be gathered together for them, to provide enough for them?”
23 And the Lord said to
Moses, “Has the Lord’s arm been shortened? Now you shall see whether what
I say will happen to you or not.”
24 So Moses went out and told the
people the words of the Lord, and he gathered the seventy men of the
elders of the people and placed them around the tabernacle. 25 Then
the Lord came down in the cloud, and spoke to him, and took of the
Spirit that was upon him, and placed the same upon
the seventy elders; and it happened, when the Spirit rested upon them, that
they prophesied, although they never did so again.[b]
26 But two men had remained in the
camp: the name of one was Eldad, and the name of the other
Medad. And the Spirit rested upon them. Now they were among
those listed, but who had not gone out to the tabernacle; yet they prophesied in
the camp. 27 And a young man ran and told Moses,
and said, “Eldad and Medad are prophesying in the camp.”
28 So Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’
assistant, one of his choice men, answered and said, “Moses my
lord, forbid them!”
29 Then Moses said to him, “Are you
zealous for my sake? Oh, that all the Lord’s people were prophets and that
the Lord would put His Spirit upon them!” 30 And
Moses returned to the camp, he and the elders of Israel.
The Lord Sends Quail
31 Now a wind went out from
the Lord, and it brought quail from the sea and left them fluttering
near the camp, about a day’s journey on this side and about a day’s journey on
the other side, all around the camp, and about two cubits above the surface of
the ground. 32 And the people stayed up all that
day, all night, and all the next day, and gathered the quail (he who gathered
least gathered ten homers); and they spread them out for
themselves all around the camp. 33 But while the
meat was still between their teeth, before it was chewed, the
wrath of the Lord was aroused against the people, and
the Lord struck the people with a very great plague. 34 So
he called the name of that place Kibroth Hattaavah,[c]because there they buried
the people who had yielded to craving.
35 From Kibroth Hattaavah the people
moved to Hazeroth, and camped at Hazeroth.
Dissension of Aaron and Miriam
12 Then Miriam and Aaron spoke against Moses
because of the Ethiopian woman whom he had married; for he had married an
Ethiopian woman. 2 So they said, “Has
the Lord indeed spoken only through Moses? Has He not spoken through
us also?” And the Lord heard it. 3 (Now
the man Moses was very humble, more than all men who were on
the face of the earth.)
4 Suddenly the Lord said to
Moses, Aaron, and Miriam, “Come out, you three, to the tabernacle of meeting!”
So the three came out. 5 Then
the Lord came down in the pillar of cloud and stood in the
door of the tabernacle, and called Aaron and Miriam. And they both went
forward. 6 Then He said,
“Hear now My words:
If there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision;
I speak to him in a dream.
7 Not so with My servant Moses;
He is faithful in all My house.
8 I speak with him face to face,
Even plainly, and not in dark sayings;
And he sees the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid
To speak against My servant Moses?”
If there is a prophet among you,
I, the Lord, make Myself known to him in a vision;
I speak to him in a dream.
7 Not so with My servant Moses;
He is faithful in all My house.
8 I speak with him face to face,
Even plainly, and not in dark sayings;
And he sees the form of the Lord.
Why then were you not afraid
To speak against My servant Moses?”
9 So the anger of
the Lord was aroused against them, and He departed. 10 And
when the cloud departed from above the tabernacle, suddenly Miriam became leprous,
as white as snow. Then Aaron turned toward Miriam, and there
she was, a leper. 11 So Aaron said to Moses, “Oh,
my lord! Please do not lay this sin on us, in which we have
done foolishly and in which we have sinned. 12 Please
do not let her be as one dead, whose flesh is half consumed when he comes out
of his mother’s womb!”
13 So Moses cried out to
the Lord, saying, “Please heal her, O God, I pray!”
14 Then the Lord said to
Moses, “If her father had but spit in her face, would she not be shamed seven
days? Let her be shut out of the camp seven days, and afterward she may be
received again.” 15 So Miriam was shut
out of the camp seven days, and the people did not journey till Miriam was
brought in again.16 And afterward the people
moved from Hazeroth and camped in the Wilderness of Paran.
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